


Break the Cycle

by AJMinatozaki



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-01-19 13:53:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12411573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJMinatozaki/pseuds/AJMinatozaki
Summary: "here's an idea: bodyguard dahyun with whiney brat princess sana and soft sulky princess momo"- ahri @dahyunnator on Twitter





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is dedicated to @dahyunnator (on twt). This plot of yours has been circling in my mind for days and I just had to.
> 
> This was supposed to be a one shot but it got turned into a three-part story, because your girl gets too into it that I just type a whole word vomit.
> 
>  
> 
> I hope you all enjoy it.
> 
>  
> 
> Let me know what you think.

“Queen B, come in. What’s your position?”

 

“Copy, Eagle. I’m at the back entrance of the hideout. I see four perps, two by the windows and the other two by the front entrance.”

 

“Is the subject on site?”

 

“Yes. Strapped on a chair and blindfolded. I gotta tell you though, Eagle. This… looks weirdly undermanned for a kidnapping, we gotta be extra careful.”

 

“I see. We’ve scouted the perimeter. Seems like there’s no one else on guard. We stick to the plan. We’ll leave Tiger Cub on the visuals, while the rest of us go full-on assault. You stay on your spot, Queen B. We need a lookout. Radio in if anything from the outside happens and if we need backup.”

 

“Copy, Eagle. Though I highly doubt you’ll need the last one.”

 

A chuckle and then a tinge of white noise lingered in her ears as she turns off her radio’s headset mic and shifts from her squatted position on the rooftop’s edge. The one called ‘Eagle’ turns to look at the rest of her team, ready to commence their mission.

 

“Alright. Tiger Cub, you stay on scope. Make sure you have eyes on a 500-meter radius, radio in if you see any incoming perps. Oz and Yoda, you’re coming in with me. We got four trolls on sight; two by the windows, two by the door. Queen B is on the lookout and is on backup. We’re coming in at exactly 20:00.”

Her team nods in understanding as weapons are held at the ready for the onslaught about to happen.

 

“Remember, we need to get the subject on to the chopper by 20:15. So we have to move fast. Make it as quiet as possible, so put away those guns, Oz. We’ll startle the neighbors.”

 

With slumped shoulders, Oz shoves her pistols back into her holsters.

 

“Let’s do this.”

 

\----

 

After a series of sneaking and some cracking of bones and noses from batons and fists knocking out their targets, Eagle proceeds on untying the subject from his bounds and taking off his blindfold.

 

Without a single word, the team runs out at the back entrance with their subject where Queen B awaits to assist with the rescue mission.

 

“The chopper will be here in a couple of minutes, Sir. Just hang on. Are you hurt anywhere?” Eagle asks the clearly frazzled old man.

 

“N-No. But thank God you’ve found me.” The man bows repeatedly as he is escorted into the building in front of the hideout where they’ve set base.

 

“No need to thank us, Sir.” Eagle answers as she ushers the man and the others inside the elevator.

 

“This was a pretty easy one, eh?” Oz nudges the team leader as the elevator goes up more floors.

 

“Well, it’s not over till we see the subject off.” Eagle deadpans as she taps her hand impatiently on her side.

 

After a few seconds, she gets a signal from Tiger Cub through radio that the chopper has arrived and is ready for transport. As the doors of the elevator opens at the rooftop, they are met by strong winds emitted by the chopper’s rotor blades.

 

Quickly, Eagle escorts the old man onto the said chopper.

 

“Thank you so much again! I get to see my wife and daughter again because of you!” The man half-yells to get his message through the ear-numbing winds hitting his ears.

 

“Please get home safe!” Eagle then gives the pilot a tap on the shoulder, signaling their take off and gets off the chopper to collect her team.

 

Then there were gunshots.

 

Somewhere, someone is shooting at them. And before she could even look for her team or take cover, Eagle gets hit on her right shoulder and collapses from the impact.

 

Her senses have become numb from the massive pain radiating from her bullet-shattered shoulder. Gunshots are still in the air as she tries to move into a crawling position and get a proper look at her surroundings.

 

She sees Oz and Tiger Cub taking cover behind a pile of shipping crates, firing back at the unexpected intruders. She tries to drag herself towards her teammates but was quickly losing blood and consciousness.

 

As her eyes forcefully draw to a close, she sees who she thinks is Yoda, running from the opposite side of the rooftop towards her.

 

Then everything went black.

 

 

She was awakened by the sounds of beeping and arguing from her long slumber. She recognizes the voices and also recognizes how much pain she’s feeling right now. She almost forgot the feeling of being shot.

 

“See? Now you woke her up! I told you to keep your trap shut!” a scoff follows the scolding as Eagle feels a warm hand over her forehead.

 

“Hey? Dahyun-ah, how are you feeling?” the scolding voice has now turned soft and caring. Eagle, or Dahyun rather, relaxes into the touch.

 

“Feeling pretty banged up, Nayeon unnie.” She croaks as the cute, bunny-toothed blonde continues to caress her dark locks.

 

“Well! I completely take back what I said about that mission being easy.” Oz shoves the remote she was arguing for back to Nayeon and heads for Dahyun’s bedside.

 

“And that is why we don’t declare anything easy or difficult till it’s done, Jeongyeon unnie.” Dahyun smiles and raises her right hand to fist bump Jeongyeon.

 

“You were pretty roughed up out there, Dubu. We almost couldn’t get to you. Thankfully, SinB got to call backup immediately.” Tiger Cub says as she lays the book she was reading and gets off her seat.

 

“Well, I’m glad to see you’re okay, Chaeyoung.”

 

On cue, Dahyun’s eyes widen. She tries to get up but recoils once the pain from her shoulder intensified at the sudden move.

 

“How are the others?”

 

“Ooookay, hold your horses there, Dubu. Lie down. Everyone else is fine.” Nayeon tucks the other back to bed.

 

“ALMOST everyone….” Jeongyeon slips and Nayeon wishes she can just strangle her right now.

 

Dahyun’s face went pale and stiff. “Go on…”

 

Jeongyeon freezes just as the other two does for a few seconds.

 

“Crossfire went on for a while, but we got to take cover after the first shots were fired… one of which, YOU took. And uhh…” Uncomfortable from Nayeon’s glare and Dahyun’s piercing stare, Jeongyeon could just evaporate right then and there.

 

“AND?” her team leader urges.

 

“Okay, as you see Chaeng and I are okay, SinB and Tzuyu are fine. You should probably thank Tzuyu for dragging your ass to safety. As for the subject… bullets reached the chopper’s tail on takeoff and they crashed straight into the hideout…”

 

“Backup was called but JIhyo and the others just didn’t get there on time. I’m sorry, Dahyun-ah.” Nayeon holds the younger’s cold and now clammy hands.

 

“S-so… h-he’s?” Dahyun stutters as she processes the information. This was it. The day she feared the most. Failing a rescue mission. Worse, the subject died.

 

Jeongyeon, Chaeyoung and Nayeon could only look down as they know Dahyun is gonna surely beat herself up for it. She is the youngest team leader in the Special Forces, gained mostly through her excellence in the military academy and during her first years in the Forces. This was her eighth rescue mission, and her first failed one.

 

“Dubu, it’s not your fault. We scouted the area, we set up perimeters and we did all the protocols. We just didn’t see this coming.” Jeongyeon tries to comfort the younger one.

 

When Tzuyu and her were drafted from their previous team to Dahyun’s, the latter was doubtful of the younger one’s leadership. But being with her for the last two years along with the others, they’ve been regarded as one of the best teams in the Forces. And Dahyun became one of the bestest friends she’s ever had.

 

“Apparently, one of the guys we knocked down got to call their other goonies after we left the hideout. Well, that’s what we got out of him.” Jeongyeon continues.

 

The younger one laid still on her bed. She needs to fix this in any way she can.

 

“So, some of them are still out there?”

 

Nayeon looks at Jeongyeon with warning. The latter looks at her intently, trying to think of the best answer when Dahyun does it for her.

 

“Of course they are. They’re not just gonna let this go. Whatever they wanted from the subject, they’ll be more desperate to get it now that he’s dead.”

 

“Just… Rest up for now, Dahyun. You’ll need your strength.” Nayeon sighs as Dahyun nods. She’s not letting this go too.

 

 

9 Months Later

 

 

“Sir, I know this is a stretch but I really want to get back on the case. I’m alright now and I’ve been cleared by the doctors. I still have a trail to follow and we have to catch whoever did this.” Dahyun practically jogs as she follows her boss, who’s each step seems to be double of hers. The towering man halts before a door and turns to look at Dahyun.

 

“Captain Kim, I know that this is your first failed mission. And I know that you’ve now grown some attachment to the case, but I can’t just let you back in. Not right now at least. Captain Park is following a lead in Japan and I’ll let you know if and when there’s a mission you can do.”

 

“But Colonel Ok, I have to make this right. I can’t just stay still while the subject’s kidnappers and murderers are out there!” She was desperate. She’s been asking a number of seniors for any leads and help. But sadly, she’s been benched. Even Captain Park Jihyo, a long-time friend from the academy couldn’t spill so much information, since there wasn’t really much.

 

Sensing that the young captain will not relent quickly (she hasn't since she was released from the hospital), the general sighs and thinks of a way to keep the other occupied. And he’s got just the thing.

 

“Alright. There’s a thing… It’s about the subject’s family.”

 

“Whatever it is, I’ll take it. It’s a start.” Dahyun brims at the first light of hope that she doesn’t even think twice about it.

 

“I’ll have my secretary send the details to you tomorrow. For now, I would need you to pack up for Seoul.” The colonel says as he opens the door and disappears behind it.

 

“Thank you, Sir! You will not regret this!”

 

“Finally”, Dahyun thinks.

 

She hates that she lost someone she was supposed to save and vows to get justice for the man. She can only recall how the man thanked them, only to meet his end a few minutes later.

 

She has to make it up to him. Whatever it takes.

 

\----

 

“So you’re really going to Seoul, huh?” Jeongyeon says as she leans on the door frame of Dahyun’s room.

 

“Yep. I have to find out what those guys were after. They wouldn’t just kidnap a high-profile person without asking for a ransom. The man was a billionaire, they could have asked for millions if money is what they’re after.” The Captain continues to fold her clothing in a neat pile and transferring it inside her trusty duffle bag.

 

“Just so you know, Nayeon’s going to keep nagging me about letting you go on this mission. That woman acts more like a mother than a cousin, really.” Jeongyeon sighs and goes to sit on Dahyun’s single-sized bed.

 

Dahyun lightly chuckles at Jeongyeon and her love-hate relationship with Nayeon. The two had been dating for a year now and both are practically acting more like her parents than her friends. With Nayeon being the hovering mom whenever she has time away from culinary school, and Jeongyeon being the seemingly passive dad that still watches over her. At the same time, Chaeyoung, SinB and Tzuyu had become like sisters more than just comrades too.

 

They’ve become more than just a Special Forces team.

 

They became a family.

 

“You know and I know and Nayeon unnie knows that I can’t just let this go. The reason why I got into the academy in the first place is to protect and serve. Not sit around and sulk when I fail doing so.” Dahyun stuffs the last of her things into her bag and zips it shut.

 

Jeongyeon is fully aware of this nature of Dahyun. Though sometimes unrealistic, she does have the best intentions for everyone.

 

“Just make sure you actually say goodbye to her before you fly off? I really cannot stand her being angry with me for days.” Jeongyeon pleads while Dahyun laughs and makes a mental note of calling her beloved cousin before the day ended.

 

 

 

A preparatory academy in Seoul, South Korea

 

 

“That was your fifth bodyguard in the last nine months, Sana-ya. If auntie’s not sending you to boarding school at this point, then you’re hella lucky.” a girl with dark chocolate hair tied up in a messy bun says as she rolls lazily on the mats of their academy’s dance room.

 

“Psh, she’s not gonna do that. I’m the only one she has left. Sending me away won’t do her any good.” The one called Sana, scoffs while brushing her long blonde locks in front of a humongous set of mirrors.

 

The girl halts from rolling, stretches and yawns like a baby ready to sleep. She knows her best friend is not gonna be stumped by something as simple as boarding school. Even then, she’d cause trouble to get her kicked out and returned to her home.

 

“Momo-ya, you’ll go with me to boarding school though, right?” Sana halts her brushing and looks at her best friend seriously.

 

She wasn’t always the troublemaker that she is. Momo attributes Sana’s behavior to her father’s loss. The man was already too busy at work to tend to his only daughter and being away for months at a time is a whole different thing from being away forever. So she sticks by Sana’s side, knowing it was just her way of coping.

 

“Of course I am.” Momo grins before letting herself drift off to a nap like she always does during free period.

 

Sana can only smile at Momo.

 

She’s the only one that understands whatever Sana does and the only person she considers as family, next to her mother and father of course. Meeting Momo when they were kids was heaven-sent to Sana, being an only child and all. Her rather odd personality and disposition in life has turned most people away, or attracted them for the wrong reasons.

 

As for Momo, it was as if she was in sync with Sana’s personality. As their families are equally affluent, it wasn’t a problem that Momo was only after her status or her family’s connections. So Sana holds her close and dear to her.

 

Ready to fight anyone who messes with her little peach.

 

 

 

 

Incheon Airport, South Korea

 

With her duffle bag in tow and an address at hand, Dahyun looks for a taxi to take her to one of the richest suburban areas in Seoul.

 

She found out earlier that week that she’s supposed to babysit (“‘Protect’ Dahyun, not babysit.” as her Nayeon unnie puts it) the subject’s only daughter. The higher ups have reasonable belief that somehow, the kidnappers will target the heiress next and the Force has already sent five agents to protect her…

 

Only to come back begging for a different mission.

 

She gets on the nearest taxi and hands over the address to the driver before it sped off onto the highway.

 

“Just how difficult can one brat be?” Dahyun murmurs as she reads on Sana’s file once again.

 

Colorful personality and tenacious graced the description on the file report. Dahyun scoffs at the niceties used to describe what she can assume to be Satan’s spawn. She takes this as a personal challenge and vows to not quit the mission nor fail it.

 

A few minutes later, they arrive at the address. Calling it a ‘residence’ was an understatement.  The place is an entire estate laden with greeneries and a large home that can almost be mistaken as a marble museum. She feels too underdressed wearing her over-sized gray hoodie, leather jacket and jeans.

 

She gets off the taxi and walks up the massive gates and sees an intercom on the side. She presses the button and the screen switches on.

 

“Name and purpose of visit?” a gruff voice comes out of the intercom which startles Dahyun from her staring.

 

“Captain Kim Dahyun, Special Forces. The new body guard.”

 

A light chuckle was heard, puzzling the captain for a bit and the gates automatically open, letting Dahyun walk up to the massive driveway leading up to the estate.

 

\----

 

Once outside the mansion’s dark mahogany-made double doors, it is opened by a short and plump woman wearing a navy blue maid’s dress and a white apron.

 

“Captain Kim, am I right?” the woman, who stands no more than five feet tall, asks as she widens the doors’ opening.

 

“Yes ma’am. Do you need any papers for confirmation?” Dahyun smiles politely at the woman and motions at the file she’s holding, containing her identification letter.

“Oh no-no, dear. I’ve seen that letter way five-too many times.” She chuckles with a hint of amusement.

 

“This is quite a surprise. It’s the first time they sent a girl.”

 

Dahyun has read the assignment history and the reasons for quitting.

 

First assigned was 2nd Lieutenant Seo Hyunwoo, military call sign: Shownu; a buff and looming junior of hers. Quit because he was forced to dive into a feces-filled sewer, following the heiress’s cleverly disposed tracker bracelet down there, thinking she may have been kidnapped while under his radar. The smell never completely left his nose.

 

Second was 1st Lieutenant Min Yoongi, military call sign: Suga; one of the calmest and most collected agents in the force. Mostly stoic but is very skilled in all forms of combat. Quit because the girl got a tip he was allergic to bees and set a hive loose by “accidentally” hitting it with a baseball. Yoongi was stuck in the hospital for a week and has vowed never to return.

 

Third, and this was the point she’s convinced that the girl is definitely Satan’s spawn, was Captain Shim Changmin, military call sign: Max; was in military school since he was a child and was a Navy Seal for five years before transferring into the Special Forces. This senior of hers has been feared in the Force because of his grit and authoritarian air. It seemed to be going well at first, only for him to quit after he was sent to the hospital with bones broken in different places from slipping on a suspiciously placed toy slime and falling down from the top of the spiral staircase. The heiress denies any involvement in the ‘accident’.

 

The fourth and fifth was a duo, 1st Lieutenant Im Jaebum, military call sign: JB, and 1st Lieutenant Park Jinyoung, military call sign: Junior. The two have been co-team leaders for years and has always been efficient this way, making them one of the top teams in the Forces. They lasted a staggering three months, collectively. The two quit just one week apart from each other. As for the reasons, it was left blank and up to the reader’s imagination.

 

“Penny for your thoughts?” the old woman giggles at Dahyun who has gone on a mild daze remembering everything she’s read.

 

“I apologize, ma’am. I guess I am the first one and I do aim to be the last one till all this is over.” Dahyun bows and smiles politely.

 

“I hope so too, sweetie. But please, just call me Aunt Chun, ma’am makes feel too old. I am the chief maid here.” the woman’s eyes sparkle a home-like feel as she smiles her motherly smile at Dahyun, which makes the latter relax a bit. It was nice to know that somehow there’s an ally in the house of Satan’s spawn.

 

“Please follow me dear, you must be exhausted from your travels.” Aunt Chun turns around and leads Dahyun up the immaculate white staircase that runs into a half spiral into the second level of the mansion.

 

Upon arriving on the second floor, three hallways heading north, south and east welcomed them, though Aunt Chun leads her to the hallway leading to her left.

 

At the end of the hall were two doors made of the same mahogany as the front doors and the chief maid halted her steps in between the two and turns to look at Dahyun.

 

“This door on my left will be your room. And across…”

 

“Is her room. Is she home?” Dahyun inquires as she looks on and familiarizes herself with the door and its distance from hers.

 

“No, not at the moment. You’re gonna have to pick her up from the academy, which will be over in – “Aunt Chun pulls out a round and silver pocket watch from her apron’s front pocket “- exactly 30 minutes. You best be going there and picking her up. She’ll probably be with Ms. Hirai too.”

 

She’s read about this Ms. Hirai in the file too. Satan’s spawn’s childhood best friend and goes to the same academy as well. The two are attached to the hip though Ms. Hirai is deemed to be the nicer one of the two.

 

“I also assume you’d be needing a mode of transportation. Why don’t you settle down your things first before I get you to your vehicle?” Aunt Chun opens the door of her new room, which is a big step up from her old room at the camp.

 

She’s never really left the camp ever since she got in the force and being an orphan herself, she doesn’t have any family outside except for her Nayeon unnie and her parents, her team and some military friends.

 

The room itself Is three times bigger than her old room, with a huge window that allows the sun to illuminate the room. Her new bed is a queen-sized one with crisp white and beige sheets and pillows, just how she likes it. The walls are adorned by abstract paintings, which are a stark contrast from the simplicity of the rest of the room.

 

Dahyun settles her duffle bag at the bottom of the bed and follows Aunt Chun out again to get her ride to pick her subject up from the academy. Upon reaching the garage which has a wide selection of cars, Aunt Chun hands her a set of keys; one obviously for a car.

 

“The black Crown Victoria is yours. Just make sure to get there at least five minutes before they get out of the academy. She gets antsy when she’s kept waiting.” Aunt Chun instructs.

 

“Noted. Thank you, Aunt Chun.” She bows and proceeds on getting on said car.

 

\----

 

“Heard you were getting a new bodyguard today.” Momo jogs up to Sana, who’s putting her books from her last class back into her locker.

“Aunt Chun told you and not me? WOW.” Sana scoffs at the new information.

 

“Not like, whoever that new bodyguard is, is gonna last more than a month. I tell you, none of them can take a joke!” Sana shrugs as she closes her locker and hooks her arm around Momo’s.

 

“Getting someone’s bones broken in ten different places is NOT funny, Sana-ya.” Momo deadpans at her best friend.

 

“It is! Did you hear his shriek? THAT was hilarious!” Sana laughs a little to forcefully. Momo can only shake her head at the statement, which didn’t go unnoticed on Sana’s part. She knows she has the tendency to go overboard but has too much pride to admit it. She just doesn’t understand why she needs to be guarded when nothing’s happened in months.

 

“Just be nicer to this new one, yeah? I think if you are, you won’t get sent to boarding school anymore and you won’t have to leave here...And me.” Momo wraps an arm around Sana. She knows the latter doesn’t want to leave Seoul. It’s the last memory she has with her father and she’ll set hell loose if she’s dragged away from it.

 

Sana does a non-committal shrug but she thinks about it. Mulls over it, more like.

 

She pushes open the academy’s front doors and sees the familiar black car parked in front. She expects another bulky guy looking like a Men in Black agent but is surprised to see a girl leaning against it.

 

She walks closer, with Momo in tow and sees the girl wearing a black leather jacket over and over-sized gray sweater, jeans and a black baseball cap.  She stops right in front of her and tilts her head in question.

 

“Who are you and what are you doing leaning on my car?” Sana looks around to find the oaf who allowed this pretty stranger (not that she was staring) to lean on her precious car.

 

Dahyun gives her a once-over and could swear she almost believed the girl was opposite of what was on her files.

 

“Capt. Kim Dahyun, your new bodyguard.” She holds out her hand for a handshake only for the other to stare at it blankly.

 

Momo notices the awkward tension and reaches for Dahyun’s hand instead.

 

“Hi! I’m Hirai Momo, Sana-jjang’s best friend.” Momo beams at the pretty sight in front of her. Dahyun turns to look at Momo and flashes her a rather charming smile, which makes the former blush.

 

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Hirai. Will you be riding with us today?” Dahyun asks politely as she shakes the other’s hand.

 

“Please, just call me Momo.” She retracts her hand, thinking it might be too sweaty for Dahyun to hold that long and sees a familiar glint in Sana’s eyes.

 

“And please just do your job and get us home. Get in, Momo.” Sana orders as she tosses her bag a little too strongly at Dahyun. The latter catches it and knows it’s starting, so she goes to open the car door for Sana and Momo while receiving a side-eye from her new boss. She shuts the car door and proceeds to get in the driver’s seat, placing Sana’s bag on the passenger seat.

As the car starts to move, Momo leans in a bit closer to Sana and whispers, “Are you okay? She’s cute huh?”

 

“Tf you mean cute? I think you need glasses, Momoring.” Sana scoffs as she crosses her arms over her chest. Though she can see her best friend is quiet taken by the cool, new bodyguard.

 

“I am not kidding, Sana-ya. She’s really pretty, like REALLY pretty. Are you sure she’s an agent?” Momo gushes some more. She’s gotta admit though, Momo’s right. The girl’s got luscious, pitch black hair that falls past her shoulders. Her side profile is no joke either, not that she was watching her. Her skin’s really pale and soft-looking too, Sana wonders what products she uses.

“The hell..” Sana unconsciously mutters as she catches herself paying more attention than she intends to. If she wants to stay in Korea, she ought to ignore this new bodyguard and be ‘nice’ to her. And she better be staying out of Sana’s way or else.

 

Dahyun quietly drives back to the estate, glancing every now and then on the rear view mirror only to find Momo either looking at her or waving at her, which she returns with a slight bow. Dealing with Momo would be easy, Satan’s spawn however, is a different story.

 

As they reach the house, Dahyun gets out of the car to open the doors for Sana, only for the latter to open herself and say “Too slow” and storm into the mansion. Seems like she’s getting the cold shoulder for now and Dahyun is willing to settle for that, as long as she keeps Sana safe. She can’t lose another person. Not anymore.


	2. Is It All Truly Broken?

She sits alone in front of a long dinner table adorned with obviously expensive pieces of candelabras, porcelain plates and silverware. Lights from the equally gigantic chandelier perched on the high ceiling of the dining room, fill the entire room. 

Everything about the house is so big and extravagant, yet she feels small and trapped like a caged hamster. Everything is just for show, Sana thinks.

People think once you have all the money and power, you’ll be happier; but it’s the opposite for Sana. She doesn’t really ask for much, doesn’t think she needs all the fancy things. All she ever wanted was for her parents to be around more.

She’s tried asking nicely, being the perfect daughter anyone could ask for; perfect grades, perfect visuals, impressive extra-curriculars, yet none of it seemed enough. She was still always alone in that façade of a home.

And with her father gone, she’s just lost a piece of her forever.

She regrets sending Momo home earlier.

She wishes someone else was there with her in that void.

“Hello.”

Sana breaks away from her deep thoughts and whips her head up to look for the source of the voice.

She sees her new bodyguard walking towards her and decides to ignore her.

“My name is Capt. Kim Dahyun. I think it’s time we formally introduce ourselves to each other.” Dahyun stops right beside Sana who’s continuously pushing around the peas on her plate with her fork.

Dahyun was met with complete silence.

Until Sana shoves the plate towards her and gets up to leave.

The latter takes a good look at the plate and sees the words “I don’t care” formed by the peas.

Dahyun chuckles. “You don’t care but you cared enough to make an effort to spell this.” She knows it’s going to be a long road for her and thinks of another way to approach the heiress.

\----

Dahyun awakens to the sound of her alarm just like every single day at exactly 5 am. Though in an unfamiliar place, she doesn’t stray from her usual schedule.

So she grabs her running shoes and throws on her oversized hoodie from yesterday and prepares for her morning run. Carefully, she slips out of her room, glancing at the homeowner’s door before walking down the hallway of her temporary home.

Careful not to stain the white marble staircase, she tiptoes as she walks down and sees the chief maid waiting for her at the bottom.

“Going out for a run, eh? The madam can only wish her young Sana is fond of that activity but she insists on sleeping to the last minute.” The old lady laughs softly as she shares this information. Dahyun returns it with a smile.

“And oh, drop by the kitchens after your run, okay? I’ll whip up some breakfast for you.” It sounded more like a mother’s order than a request so Dahyun decides against saying no, smiles and nods before letting herself out of the front door.

She decides that running around the estate’s area would be a good idea to familiarize herself with the new surroundings so she lets herself out of the massive gates too and begins to jog after putting on her earphones and doing a few stretches.

Dahyun contemplates about a lot of things during her morning runs. Makes sure she has plans B, C, D and so on for whatever possible scenarios she can think of for the day. She makes a mental note of wearing a suit today to better establish her role as a bodyguard and observe Sana’s schedule, since she can only assume that she won’t give it to her willingly, let alone speak properly to her.   
Then she thinks about thanking Aunt Chun for the breakfast she’s about to make for her and calling Nayeon and Jeongyeon to tell them she got there safely.

Occupied by her thoughts and by the loud music from her earphones, she doesn’t hear the voice calling her nor notices the incoming arm about to land on her shoulder.

Feeling the contact of the arm around her shoulder, she moves on instinct and grabs the arm with both hands and overthrows the person to her front with force.

Dahyun switches to a defensive stance, ready to fight but gets mortified when she sees a sweat-covered Momo groaning and whining in pain on the ground.

“What the heck did you do that for??” Momo continuous to whine while clutching her arm in pain. Dahyun feels really apologetic but couldn’t help it but giggle at the pink-hoodie wearing girl in front of her.

“What? Is my pain funny to you? Ouch…” the other one pouts and tries to sit up while Dahyun helps her.

“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t laugh but you looked kinda funny whining like you did.” Dahyun smiles widely for the first time since she got there.

“If I had known you were this mean I would’ve told Sana to just be mean to you too. Hmp!” Momo pouts some more and crosses her arms over her chest like a cute kid having a tantrum.

Dahyun thinks she’s adorable and she isn’t really one to be selfish with compliments so she says it. “You looked really cute too, y’know?”

Cute. This gorgeous piece of heaven in front of her just called her cute, Momo thinks. Her mind goes blank as she stares at Dahyun, mouth agape.   
Her eyes do a full scan of the other’s facial features, making sure she doesn’t forget how Dahyun’s tofu-like skin turns pink when she’s sweating, or how her eyes turn into moon-like crescents when she smiles, or how she has really plump, pink lips or how much prettier she is up close.

Momo shakes her head as soon as she realizes she’s been staring for too long. She feels the heat climb up to her face as she scuffles to get up from the ground, brushing off dirt from her back and butt to further distract herself from the fact that she indeed just ogled at the bodyguard.

“I’m really sorry though, I thought you were attacking me. Reflexes?” Dahyun gives an apologetic look and scratches the back of her head. 

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Aside from my back and shoulder which MIGHT be broken, I think I’m okay.” Dahyun’s eyes widen in alarm and unconsciously holds Momo by the shoulder.

“I am so sorry! I really didn’t mean to. Let me take you to a hospital.” Dahyun proceeds on grabbing Momo’s arm and lightly dragging her to wherever the hospital in this town may be.

If Momo was blushing earlier, she can only imagine how red her face has gotten now that Dahyun is holding her arm. Until she remembers she’s about to be dragged to the hospital.

“H-Hey! I’m fine, I was just joking!” Momo laughs awkwardly, standing firm on her ground to avoid being dragged any further. Dahyun stops walking as well, and turns to look at her.

“Are you sure? You’re not just saying that, are you?” Dahyun squints her eyes as if suspicious of the girl.

“I’m really okay, I promise! I’m not THAT sensitive.” The girl waves her hands in front of her defensively and decides to change the topic before Dahyun can try to take her to the hospital again.

“So you run in the morning too, huh?”

“Yeah, a habit I made ever since I got into the military. You?”

“I just like to run, helps me think.” Momo says.

“Really? Me too! So I guess we can be running buddies while I’m here?” Dahyun asks excitedly. The proposition is more than inviting enough for Momo to nod her head repeatedly that she can almost swear she’s like one of those dashboard bobble heads.

“That’s great! And I may need your help on something too.” Dahyun adds.

“It’s about Sana-chan, isn’t it?” Momo sighs. She has to admit that Sana is really difficult to deal with once she puts up her walls. And if she’s gonna help Dahyun, she has to know why she has to do it and what she gets out of it, if there’s any. So she asks.

“Why is it that you people are so persistent on guarding Sana-chan? Is it because of what happened to Uncle?” Dahyun thinks twice if she can trust Momo with this kind of information, but since she needs her help with Satan’s spawn, she has to at least give her a gist of what is happening.

“Look, it is important that you keep this a secret, okay? I have yet to tell Sana because she won’t speak to me but she has to be protected. You were right, it has something to do with Mr. Minatozaki’s passing.” Dahyun starts explaining to Momo while motioning for them sit down on a nearby bench.

“Is she really in danger like auntie says?” Now, Momo was getting worried for her best friend. Sana and her mother had gotten into multiple arguments over her bodyguards and why she has to have them around to keep her safe. 

Sana would always brush it off, saying nothing’s gonna happen to her.

“We believe so. That’s why I’m here to protect her and to figure out what these people want from Mr. Minatozaki in the first place. So I’m asking you to help me just kinda get through to her.”

Momo has always been and will always be loyal to Sana. She’s been her best friend for years and now understands that she has a responsibility to keep her safe too. 

And she’s not just doing this just because a cute girl asked her to.

She really wants Sana to be safe and well. Always.

“So is that a ‘yes’?” Dahyun looks at Momo with hopeful eyes that pretty much seals her decision to really help out.

“Yes. I’ll help you.”


	3. Irreparable Mistakes

Sana nearly shatters her alarm clock as she throws it across her bedroom and collides with the wall opposite her bed. Out of the few things in this world that she actually likes, sleep is definitely in her top three.

 

And being bothered from her time with precious sleep, with the blaring, red LED lights of her alarm clock reading 6:30, coupled with a buzzing sound that’s an ache to her ears, Sana was sure to wake up on the wrong side of the bed every day.

 

She huffs in annoyance, forcing herself into a stretch and readying herself to get into the shower.

 

Grabbing her phone from her nightstand, she sees the usual good morning text from Momo and of course, nothing from the person she hopes to text her. As usual.

 

Sana sighs as she drops her phone to her bed, turns on her sound system and plays her morning playlist to hype her up for the day before heading into the shower.

 

\----

 

Dahyun hears the loud crash from Sana’s room. She had just finished taking a bath after her morning run and her talk with Momo. She immediately runs out of her room, thankful she was able to at least wear a t-shirt and her pants as soon as she heard the noise.

 

She reached for the doorknob and realized it’s locked from the inside and that she forgot to ask Aunt Chun for the spare keys. She knocks loudly and calls Sana’s name multiple times.

 

Loud music can be heard through the door, making it almost impossible to hear anything else and Dahyun is in a crunch time decision. She surely heard the crash and asking for the keys would take a longer time in the gigantic house.

 

What if Sana was being attacked or kidnapped? She can’t let that happen.

 

So Dahyun takes a couple of steps back, readies herself and proceeds on kicking the door with the heel of her right foot. It took her three tries to finally snap the door open.

 

She runs inside the room and scans the immediate area for any signs of a break in. Seeing as there is none aside from the ‘misplaced’ alarm clock on the floor near her, Dahyun proceeds on going further in the room.

 

If the music was loud outside, it was surely louder in there with “Pocketful of Sunshine” blasting through huge (and clearly expensive) speakers. Dahyun makes her way toward the open balcony doors and takes a look whether Sana is there.

 

She wasn’t.

 

Dahyun quickly turns back inside the room only to be met by another loud noise.

 

This time, a scream. From Sana herself.

 

Blush creeps up on Dahyun’s face as she registers that Sana wasn’t screaming because she was being kidnapped or harmed like she thought.

 

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN HERE, YOU FUCKING PERVERT!”

 

Sana yells as she practically dives into her bed and under her sheets.

 

“GET OUT!!!”

 

This prompts Dahyun to snap out of her daze and get out. She closes the door only to realize, once again, that she broke the door’s lock and closing the door completely was nearly impossible.

 

So she closes it as much as she can and goes back into her room, face flushed and decides to finish dressing up and began to prepare for herself for the wrath that is Minatozaki Sana.

 

\----

 

Sana thought she heard an odd sound but shrugs it off and continues to dance along the music reverberating through the bathroom.

 

She was finished taking a shower before she realized she forgot to take a towel in with her. Sana sighs and just lets herself out of the shower and out of the bathroom.

She’ll just have the maids deal with the mess later.

 

So she casually walks out, butt-naked, only to see a semi-frantic Dahyun entering from her balcony.

 

Sana swears she’s never screamed so much in her life as she did today.

 

In panic, she nosedived onto her bed to cover herself up with the sheets.

 

That was it. And to think she was considering to be nice this time around.

 

She yells at Dahyun to get out before she can wallow in embarrassment any further and makes up her mind that she’ll get the new bodyguard out of the picture, pronto.

 

\----

 

“You what??” Nayeon yells through the phone, making Dahyun twitch. After her rather unfortunate run-in with Sana, she decides to call Jeongyeon for some advice, blabbering about what happened before Jeongyeon can even say anything, only to have Nayeon answer at the other end.

 

“I didn’t mean to, okay! I heard a crash inside and I thought she could be in trouble, so I went in.” Dahyun lets out a breath she’s been holding as she massages her temple with her free hand.

 

“But how was it though? She hot?” Dahyun could practically hear Nayeon smacking Jeongyeon on the back of her head for the inappropriate question. Apparently she was on speaker phone.

 

Now that she thinks back (and not that she was looking), she could definitely say the girl was gifted aesthetically.

 

“She’s… Well… You know what, I gotta go. I have to deal with this.” Dahyun says deciding against commenting about the heiress’ physicality and grabs her coat, preparing to go downstairs.

 

“Just be careful, okay? And apologize.” Nayeon says before Dahyun hears Jeongyeon following up with a “Stay alive, buddy!” in the background.

 

Taking one more look at the full body mirror in her room, she slips on her coat and lets the material fall into a perfect fit on her shoulders. Checking once more if her gun holsters are properly concealed underneath the piece of clothing, she closes the button in front. She smooths out her hair tied slick back into a high ponytail and takes another deep breath.

 

Time to face Satan’s Spawn.

 

\----

 

Breakfast was relatively quiet and Dahyun was feeling more anxious with the silent treatment, whilst Sana ate in front of her. Dahyun had politely declined breakfast, seeing as her appetite has faded.

 

But Aunt Chun had already placed her breakfast in the same table as the heiress and couldn’t say no anymore when the woman made her sit and finish the food.

 

Sana has never spoken properly to her before, but this time it felt more ominous than ever. So Dahyun finished her breakfast as soon as she could to get away from Sana’s constant glaring as she stabs on the poor toast and eggs on her plate with her fork.

 

Dahyun finds it slightly ridiculous how she gets unnerved by the girl. She has surely faced more dangerous people in her time on the field and she’s always found herself capable when it comes to dealing with them.

 

But of course, she’ll never let Sana know that. Or anyone for that matter.

 

Even the drive to the academy was quiet. Dahyun makes an attempt to apologize for that morning’s unfortunate incident but was met by Sana waving her off and putting on her earphones for the rest of the drive.

 

Observe. That was Dahyun’s keyword for the day; to observe a day in Minatozaki Sana’s life. She plans on making an air-tight security plan for the heiress, walking a couple of feet back, looking at everything and everyone they pass by.

 

It was no secret that Sana is popular. Having people from different groups and cliques saying hi or waving at her, or even just blatantly staring at her in awe as they walked past them and Sana returning it with a few waves and nods of her own in acknowledgement.

 

And that also meant more people for Dahyun to watch out for.

 

Dahyun halts her steps as Sana does in front of her locker.

 

Seeing as she may not have any other chance, Dahyun boldly steps forward and tries to relay an apology to Sana who only side-eyes her and scoffs before turning her attention back to her locker.

 

“I’m trying to apologize here, Miss. My job is to protect you and I heard a crash inside your room, what was I supposed to do?” Dahyun was swallowing her pride at this point, pulling the most genuine voice she can muster just so the heiress can see how sorry she really is.

 

“I can fix your door for you too. I know I overdid it and broke it-” Dahyun’s amending was cut short by Sana slamming the door of her locker, making her wince.

 

“Broke it? BROKE IT?” Sana asked incredulously. “You’ve split it in half, Captain Perve! You can’t fix that!” With books in tow, Sana stomps away from Dahyun, the latter had to jog to catch up to her only to have Momo appear out of nowhere in front of her.

 

“Good morning, Captain Kim!” Momo greets before gasping in awe and giving Dahyun a once-over with her eyes. “Ooh, you looking real sharp in that suit!” Momo mindlessly compliments and sends Dahyun into a full stop when Momo hooks her right arm with Dahyun’s left.

 

Momo cutely tilts her head to the side questioningly as Dahyun shifts to look at their linked arms with a slightly distressed expression. Not that Dahyun minded, it’s just that her subject was disappearing from her line of sight and into a sea of students, and Momo clinging onto her makes it impossible to catch up to her.

 

Finally sensing what’s going on, Momo’s lips break into a wide grin and reinforces her hold on Dahyun’s arm. “Don’t worry your cute little tush, she’s in the same class as me this morning.” Momo says while practically dragging Dahyun with her as she skips her way to her classroom, gaining questioning looks from other students that didn’t go unnoticed on Dahyun’s part.

 

Arriving at a classroom at the end of the left wing of the building, Momo eventually loosens her grip on Dahyun’s arm.

 

Dahyun tries to take a peek inside the classroom through the small glass window on the door to see if Sana’s indeed inside and feels a wave of relief wash over her as she sees her subject sitting on a desk, chatting animatedly with her classmates and laughing.

 

She sighs and notices that Momo is still clutching her arm with both hands.

 

“Aren’t you going to go inside, Ms. Hirai?” Dahyun asks tentatively, grabbing the handle of the door to let Momo in. The latter just smiles shyly, tucking a loose hair strand to the back of her ears and releases Dahyun’s arm hesitantly before walking towards the door.

 

“Hey, Captain Kim?” Momo suddenly turns around to face Dahyun before she can fully step inside the room.

 

“Thank you for walking me to class.”

 

The captain’s lips quirk into a playful smirk, making Momo realize what she’s just implied and holds up her hands in front of her, defensively. “I-I m-mean, walking WITH me. You know? Walking ALONG with me here, not like you walked me here like we’re, you know? Like keeping me safe or anything like that, uh-uhm, yeah, o-okay.” Momo stutters, clearly embarrassed before turning on her heels and speed-walking into the classroom.

 

Dahyun simply smiles in amusement at the cuteness of the girl and closes the door of the classroom. She eventually decides to take a walk when her phone rang as she reached the main entrance of the building.

 

She smiles as she sees who it is and quickly presses the answer button on the screen.

 

“Hey. I’ve missed you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone. :) It's been quite a while since I've updated, huh?
> 
> Well, internet is still not set-up at home so I couldn't update as much as I want to and I have these chapters sitting in my laptop for a while now but  I really want to let you guys know that I intend to continue this story so here's an update. :D
> 
> Thank you so much for supporting, commenting and upvoting this story. Please let me know on the comments section what you think and if there's anything you're anticipating or hypothesizing about the direction of this. :)
> 
> Thank you again, and I'll see you soon (?) :D


	4. Too Many Missing Pieces

“Hey. I’ve missed you.” 

Dahyun says, a mix exasperation and longing evident in her voice.

“I’ve missed you too. How’s your first day going?”

“I don’t know, really. I just…” Dahyun hesitates but eventually lets it out.

“I’m anxious...”

Dahyun sighs as she talks into her phone, deciding against going into further detail of that morning’s events.

“Just take a deep breath, unnie. You’ve done a lot of missions like this before, and you’ve always been one of the best at it, so you got this okay?”

Getting this kind of encouragement from this particular person has always been a big thing for Dahyun.

“Thanks, Tzuyu. I’d hug you right now if I could.”

And Dahyun means it. 

Tzuyu, even being the youngest member of her team, has always been honest and unfiltered when it comes to what’s good and what’s not, which makes Dahyun appreciate her a bit more with encouragements, criticisms and opinion on various topics at hand.

And she certainly trusts Tzuyu enough. Receiving such compliments from the younger girl on a day like this is something she’s really grateful for.

Sensing that there’s still doubt in her unnie’s voice, Tzuyu continues on with her actual reason for calling.

“Well, would it help if I told you I got you some intel about Mr. Minatozaki?”

Dahyun’s face brightens at Tzuyu’s question.

“Shoot.” Dahyun could hear the rustling of papers on the other side of the line before Tzuyu spoke once more.

“Okay, so I called Captain Park Jihyo and as we know, Mr. Minatozaki was dealing with a lot of businesses. It ranges from medical and pharmaceutical, automotive, food, transport, you name it, which definitely makes him and his entire family a staple on every social and business circles.”

Dahyun is well aware of this, having made multiple prior checks and research on the man and his many ventures.

“But get this, these past three years he has also started to expand his empire into electronics and technology in secret and has started funding a few projects here and there that can hit it big in the market.” Tzuyu continues to explain.

“And I would assume that these projects are revolutionary enough to get him in trouble. What else did you find out?”

“Right now, Captain Park is in Japan and is following a lead on one of Mr. Minatozaki’s said projects. Apparently, Mr. Minatozaki himself has participated in the creation of this particular product, having a degree in both Business and Bioengineering. So my best guess is something related to the latter.”

“Did Captain Park find out what it’s about exactly?” Dahyun’s eyebrows furrowing in question.

“THAT is what Jihyo sunbaenim is trying to find out in Japan. That’s where Mr. Minatozaki’s head scientist and partner is currently staying. Since the project is highly classified, Jihyo sunbaenim is having a bit of a challenge in getting more info.”

“Does she think this is what got Mr. Minatozaki in trouble?” Dahyun confirms. She needs to be sure about it if she is to protect not just Sana, but whatever it is these people want to obtain in the first place.

“Well, Jeongyeon unnie, SinB unnie and Chaeyoung have been doing their own research on Mr. Minatozaki’s other ventures too and right now, this is the most plausible cause. We’ll know once I get a follow up from Jihyo sunbaenim and the others.”

Dahyun resigns with the new lead that she has and remembers something she’s forgotten to do before leaving for Seoul.

“Thank you for the information, Tzuyu. And I never got to tell you again before I left but, thank you for saving my ass before. Chaeyoung said you practically hauled me outta there.” Dahyun says in her most sincere tone.

“Hey, what are friends for huh? And stop thanking me already, I think this is the millionth time that you have. Though I wouldn’t mind you buying me pizza and a cold one after this whole thing is over.” She can practically see Tzuyu smiling at the other end of the line. 

Dahyun hums in agreement. “I’ll call you every now and then, okay? You keep safe too, Yoda. And say hello to the others for me.”

“Will do, unnie. You too and good luck with the devil.” Tzuyu chuckles.

“By the way, Tzuyu?” Dahyun smiles knowingly.

“Just ask Jihyo unnie out already, will you? It’s too obvious she likes you too when she gives you that much information and holds out on me.” Dahyun laughs and can imagine her friend rolling her eyes at the statement.

“Like I’ll ever get the confidence to ask someone like her on a date. I’m confident, but not THAT confident She’s way too perfect and gorgeous.” Tzuyu says matter-of-factly. 

“Gotta go, unnie. I’ll call soon.” 

Dahyun shakes her head as Tzuyu ends the call before she can even protest further.

After Momo disappeared into their classroom for that morning, Dahyun decided to take herself on a tour of the school. Familiarizing herself with exits, entrances and every other place she can explore for an hour and a half, when she got Tzuyu’s call.

After the call, she proceeded with her initial plan and did her usual thinking.

She remains unsettled with Sana’s behavior that morning and resigns from thinking about it for a while. She walks back inside the building to escort Sana to her next class and mulls over her next move.

As she walks down the halls of the main building, Dahyun makes a mental note to ask Aunt Chun or even Mrs. Minatozaki of any knowledge about this supposed project and if the possibility of it getting Sana’s life in danger is more imminent than she thought.

The bell rings, signifying the end of first period. Students filed out of their classrooms, heading over to their next classes. Dahyun waits patiently outside Sana and Momo’s classroom and sees the two coming out while chatting animatedly about something.

Dahyun simply follows the two as they head over the next corridor, all the while throwing “hi”s and “hello”s to a few friends and acquaintances. As they reach another classroom, Sana halts and turns to look at Dahyun.

“We have practice until 6 so if you can just wait for a while for us, that’d be great.” Sana says in an unfamiliar, nice tone. Dahyun almost forgot to hide the surprised look on her face when Sana addressed her but dismisses it immediately, keeping in mind to have her guard up.

“Sure.” Dahyun affirms. This will certainly give her more time to observe the surroundings anyway and even the people around Sana. She does miss the somewhat warning look Momo is giving her while the latter was being practically dragged by Sana into their classroom.

\----

Dahyun finishes up another series of rounds of the school, making sure she’s had a word with the academy’s headmaster, Mr. Park Jinyoung, about the whole protection detail going on with Sana.

 

-Headmaster’s Office-

 

“Ah, yes. I’ve heard. Again, I extend my sincerest condolences to their family. The Minatozaki family has always been generous when it comes to our academy’s charitable pursuits.” The headmaster, Mr. Park Jinyoung, circles back to his chair after making himself a cup of tea from his rather impressive tea bar situated near his equally impressive trophy and awards case. 

Mr. Park smooths his rather attention-grabbing, purple velvet coat as he sits on his swivel chair and turns to look at Dahyun, sitting at the other side of his massive, dark oak desk.

“Mr. Park, I do have to ask, how is Sana’s life here in the academy? And during her stay here, has anything unusual or suspicious happened?” Dahyun inquires as she shifts in her seat, observing the rather odd man in front of her.

The headmaster takes a small sip of his freshly brewed tea before settling down his cup and taking on a more brooding look.

“Captain Kim, this academy houses the children of the most elite families here in Seoul and even the neighboring cities. I think it’s safe to say that every single student in here has a target on their backs and that includes Minatozaki Sana and even her best friend, Hirai Momo.” Mr. Park purses his lips as he gets up from his seat and walks in front of the large glass windows behind him.

“In any case, Ms. Minatozaki is one of our best and brightest. She may be a bit of a colorful character but nevertheless, she does well with her studies and extra-curricular activities. Quite popular too, not just with the young men in here but with the young women too.” An unexpected chuckle from the headmaster somewhat surprises Dahyun.

“As for anything unusual, nothing that we couldn’t handle. Our academy prides itself on our ability to keep these children safe and we do wisely spend what their parents pay for every semester on state-of-the-art security systems and physical security. I know you’ve already taken yourself on a tour and as you may have seen, every entrance and exit are appropriately guarded.”

Dahyun nods. There’s not a single entrance that is not guarded or at least has a roaming security near it. Even the cafeteria itself has guards stationed at the entrance. Security cameras practically littered the entire campus like a maximum security prison.

“We also make sure to run background checks on every person that walks into our halls. That includes drivers, personal bodyguards, friends and family of the students. Including Special Forces captains such as yourself.” Mr. Park flashes Dahyun a smirk as if saying he knows every tiny secret she has.

“Top student in the military academy, excelled in recons and rescue, youngest captain in the Forces. Impressive, I must say.” 

Dahyun remains stoic as she looks at the man pacing in front of her. It wasn’t like she had anything to hide in the first place.

“With that being said, all I want is for our students to be safe and I believe the Forces has done a darn good job by sending you here.” Mr. Park returns to his chair and reaches for a file from one of his drawers.

“Here is a list of all the people that has come in here and is connected to Sana. It’s a small list, considering she keeps her circle small and close, on contrary of her popular status here at the academy. I hope it helps you.”

Dahyun reaches for the file and does a quick scan of the pages. Mr. Park was right; it was a rather small list. But filled with enough background checks for each person on the list.

The young captain bows in thanks and lets herself out of the room to return to her post outside Sana’s classroom.

\----

“So what exactly are you planning on doing this time?” Momo whispers to Sana as she jots down whatever their teacher is writing on the board. Contrary to how lax she always seems to be, Momo actually cares about her grades.

Sana has done the courtesy of taking Momo up to speed with what happened that morning and her best friend has not stopped laughing at her until class started.

“Remember Art of War; Keep your friends close and your enemies, closer.” Sana smirks as she closes her notebook at the sound of the bell ringing for the end of class. 

Whatever happened this morning, Sana wants payback one way or another.

Momo gets out of the classroom first and sees Dahyun leaning against a locker at the other side of the hall. She doesn’t even need to say how good Dahyun looks with her black suit and tie that hugs her entire body perfectly; it was obvious with the looks she was getting from the other students and teachers alike, regardless of whether or not the young captain notices it.

So Momo approaches the other who seems to be neck-deep in thought while reading the file Mr. Park gave her.

“Whatchu got there, Sharp?” Dahyun looks up from reading to see a smiling Momo in front of her.

“Just a few things that might help with the case. Where’s Sana?”

“Oh, she’s still in there. Mina wanted to talk to her for a bit.”

Dahyun cranes her neck to see past the students making a beeline out of the classroom, only to see Sana coming out last with who she can deduce as Mina.

“That’s our cheer captain, Myoui Mina. And in case you don’t know, Sana is the vice-captain so you’ll probably see her around us a lot.” Momo informs. Dahyun gives her a small smile, thankful that Momo is being cooperative and giving her information on who’s who.

Dahyun looks on some more and as time passes, she can see Sana getting more agitated with whatever Mina was saying. Until she waves off the other and half-stomps toward their direction.

Without a word, Sana drags Momo to the cafeteria for lunch, followed by an on-looking Dahyun.

Entering the cafeteria was more like entering a five-star restaurant. Glass panes surround the entire place, out looking the academy’s massive grounds, including the football field and track and even a golf course.

Tables with plush, leather seats occupy the space near the window panes, while the wide array of food and drinks occupy the other side, buffet style. It was like an international festival with all the varieties of food you can choose from.

The floors were as pristine as the huge chandeliers placed on the ceilings and the immaculate white walls of the place.

The stark difference from what Dahyun was used to and this place was immense. Before getting accepted in the military academy, she studied in a public high school with Nayeon. Her old high school was a lot rowdier and the food was terrible, but at least it didn’t feel pretentious to be in there since no one really cared where you’re from as long as you didn’t bother anyone.

And in there, it was obvious that everyone cared what you wore, what car you drive, which family you’re from and if you’re rich enough to be their friend. 

Dahyun follows Sana and Momo as they grab plates from the end of the food table and started to pick out their choice of food. Momo even offered her to get her own but Dahyun declined. She’d already helped herself to a sandwich from a vending machine before fetching the two girls.

“What happened?” Momo inquires as soon as they settle their trays and took a seat at their usual table near the glass windows of the cafeteria.

“Myoui wants to change my part of the routine. Says it’s way too much to learn and perfect before regionals.” Sana scoffs before taking a bite of her salad. Dahyun continues to eavesdrop or ‘gather intel’ as she puts, while standing behind Momo and Sana.

Dahyun can already guess that this Mina person doesn’t always see eye to eye with Sana and definitely doesn’t take any crap from her. 

She can only hear Sana huffing and ranting to Momo about the entire thing while practically attacking her salad with her fork.

\----

The latter half of the day passed by rather quickly and Dahyun found herself waiting for Sana and Momo outside of the academy’s gym where they practice. Dahyun was never really the type to like these kinds of things even when Nayeon dragged her to watch games at their old high school, so she settled with waiting outside and checks inside every now and then just to see if her subject is still there and hasn’t ditched her.

Meanwhile, inside the gym, Momo stifles a whine, having run their routine for the umpteenth time now and sweat making its way throughout her entire body. Sana remains pensive as Mina, their cheer captain, alters every bit of choreography that Sana has contributed to their routine. 

“Did everybody get that? If so, let’s repeat this part of the routine and do it with the new combinations...” Mina halts from speaking once she saw Sana making her way towards her from her original position.

“We need to talk.” Sana simply says then walks past Mina, heading towards the other end of the gym. Sensing as there was no refusing Sana with this, Mina calls for a 5-minute water break which earns a few hollers and hoots from the rest of their team.

Mina then follows an obviously unhappy Sana, standing with her arms crossed.

“What’s up?”

“You tell me, Myoui.” Sana’s snarky response earns an eyebrow raise from Mina who seems to have connected the dots.

“Sana, we’ve spoken about this. Your choreography is too intricate and difficult to master before the competition. AND it offsets the counting when transitioning to our stunts section.” Mina calmly explains.

“But that doesn’t mean you change EVERY SINGLE MOVE. You’ve never even asked me if the change is okay, you just go on and change it! What’s the fucking point of me being a vice-captain then?” Sana couldn’t hold her temper while seeing Mina being as calm as she is at that moment.

“There’s a difference between changing and adjusting. If you noticed, I only altered your moves and shifted them around the routine to fit the counting and music but the general essence of the original move is in it. I hope you’re seeing that.”

Sana scoffs, thinking that the other is being totally inconsiderate.

“You know what? Whatever. Do whatever the fuck you want.” And with that, Sana walks away to get her gym bag from the bleachers and storms out of the place. Momo who was watching the exchange, wasted no time to run after Sana.

Momo sees Sana heading for the locker room, so she follows her and finds the latter sitting on a bench situated in front of a row of lockers.

Thankfully, no one else is inside and Momo felt this kind of space is what Sana needs right now.

She quietly sat beside Sana and took her best friend’s left hand in her own.  
Being friends with Sana for the most part of their lives, Momo knows that letting Sana spill everything on her own and letting her just vent it out is the best way to help her. Yet, Sana remains still on her seat, eyes closed whilst taking deep breaths.

Momo looks on worriedly but still waits patiently for Sana to make the first move.

Sana eventually shifts from her stationary position and leans her head on Momo’s shoulder.

“It’s just so unfair.” Sana finally mumbles.

Momo rubs her thumb on the back of Sana’s hand slowly, leaning her head on top of the resting head on her shoulder.

“I’ve been working on that choreography for months… So I can show everyone... So I can-” Sana stops herself as she chokes back a sob.

“It’s okay, Sana. Just let it out.” Momo encourages.

Sana heaves a deep sigh. As much as she wants to say it out loud, she feels like it would sound too pathetic and weak of her. Even if it was Momo she’s talking to. Truth is, she’s been working on that choreography to show her father when he promised months ago that he’ll attend their cheer competition this time around.

This time, Sana got her father to promise he’ll be there. That he’ll cheer her on.  
Sana was holding on to that one day and now it’s just all gone.

He’s gone.

The dam finally breaks and Sana lets herself cry for the first time since her father’s funeral. Momo lets go of her hand and naturally wraps her arms around Sana, holding her close and giving as much warmth as she can. For she knows that this is the only way she can help Sana keep herself together.

\----

“I really don’t want to go home.” Sana says, wiping the tear stains on her face with the sleeve of her hoodie. This makes Momo giggle and earns a side-eye from her best friend.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing really.” Momo shrugs. “It’s just that people think I’m the child in this equation, but seeing you wipe your snot like that says otherwise”

“THAT is NOT snot, Hirai.” Sana lightly shoves Momo but ends up smiling anyway.

The question in Momo’s mind still stands so she asks it.

“So what do you want to do?”

Sana thinks for a moment when her face brightens, as if a switch has been turned on. She gets up and grabs all her things and shoves it in her sports bag. Momo simply gives her a questioning look, until Sana held out her hand for Momo to take.

“Trust me.”

Momo always does, so she holds on to Sana’s hand as she leads them out of the gym.

\----

Dahyun looks at her wristwatch; 6 o’clock sharp. She gets up from her seat and decides to go inside the gym and sees everyone packing up and heading for the showers. She sees no sign of either Sana or Momo so she assumes that they must have gone to the showers first. So she waits.

Thirty minutes have passed and still no sign of the two despite the number of their other cheerleader friends that have come out and left the gym.

After another 10 minutes, Mina herself has emerged from the gym and seems to be locking up the doors already. This alarms Dahyun immediately and she jogs towards the cheer captain.

“Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you but where is Ms. Minatozaki and Ms. Hirai?” Mina, slightly surprised, turns around to look at Dahyun.

“I suppose they’ve already left, after Sana stormed off in the middle of practice and Momo followed her to the locker room. They never came back.”

Dahyun sighs tiredly and re-focuses at the situation at hand.

“Is there any other way out of this gymnasium aside from this one?” Dahyun asks, pointing at the double doors that Mina was on the act of locking up.

“Uhm, yes. There’s a fire exit at the left side of the gym, but now that I think about it, if they went through there we would have seen them pass us…” Mina says, unsure.

“I’m sorry but who are you? I’ve seen you with Sana and Momo earlier…”

“I’m the new bodyguard. Now, are you sure there’s no other way out of this place?” Dahyun asks distractedly as she takes out her phone to dial Sana’s number. Sensing the urgency of the situation, Mina speaks once again.

“There’s another one in the locker rooms. But that one’s always locked so I’m not entirely sure if they can even get through that…”

“Do you mind?” Dahyun motions at the door and Mina opens it for her.

“Go through that hallway on the right, it’s the last door on the left!” Mina calls out as Dahyun rushed into the gym.

Dahyun follows Mina’s instructions and makes her way into the locker room. She scopes the place and sees the said exit at the far end of the room. Dahyun runs towards it and tries to push open the door.

It wouldn’t budge no matter how much she pushed. Her mind was racing as to how Sana and Momo got out of that place without being seen. She looks at the door in front of her once more and notices a hinge slightly sticking out from its base.

Dahyun immediately squats down to look at the hinge and sees the small part of the wooden doorframe has been rigged to be a small compartment, hidden by the hinge itself, containing the key to the door.

“Smart.” Dahyun mutters as she takes the key and slides it to the knob, unlocking it quickly with one turn of the key. Dahyun then runs out of the door and then looks around immediately.

“The number you have dialed is unavailable. Please try your call later.” Says the automated voice prompt as she calls Sana’s phone.

“Crap.” Dahyun mutters as she walks down the steps of the gymnasium door.

Wasting no time, Dahyun decides to call the best person she can think of right now.  
Thankfully, her intended person answers the phone after two rings.

“Yo, Dubu! What’s up? Heard you’ve met the devil incarnate.” 

“Hey Chaeng, speaking of the devil incarnate, I need you to find her for me.” Dahyun says as she makes her way back into the gym.

“It hasn’t even been a day yet and you already lost her? Now, I want to meet her.” Chaeyoung jokes.

“Seriously, Chaeyoung. I’m on my way back out of the academy. Can you trace her phone from there?”

Dahyun hears shuffling from the other end of the line before Chaeyoung speaks up again.

“Seriously, unnie, when did I ever let you down? Give me a couple of minutes.” Dahyun can feel Chaeyoung smirking from where she is but focuses on giving Mina, who seemed to have waited for a while for her, a polite bow and mouths a ‘thank you’ as she walks out of the main entrance of the gym.

“Aaaaand I got it. I’ve traced her phone and it was last turned on in a place called The Den before completely losing signal. And oh, it’s one of those underground clubs that teenagers there go for without getting carded.”

Dahyun closes the car door and starts the engine immediately.

“Thanks a lot, Chaengie. You’re the best.”

“Flattering, but I’ll settle for a pizza and beer when you get back.” Chaeyoung says and it somehow makes Dahyun laugh despite the current situation.

“I swear to god, you and Tzuyu are practically the same person, except you’re more annoying and tiny. Tell you what, we’ll all go out for pizza and beers when I get back.”

“Rude! BUT as long as I’m getting free food and booze, I’m good. I’ll send you the address of the bar. Call me if you need any further help, unnie.” Chaeyoung says before Dahyun mutters a thank you and goodbye and ended a call.

She steps on it and heads to the address Chaeyoung just texted her.

“And so it begins…” Dahyun says.

\----

Heavy bass and music pounded the walls of The Den as Sana downs her fourth shot for that night. It was undoubtedly too early for both of them to be drinking, or for Sana at least. Momo has taken it upon herself to not drink too much and just watch over Sana for the time being. She also mentally curses herself for forgetting to ask for Dahyun’s number. For things like this, of course. Not like she can ever ask the captain out.

Or can she?

Momo shakes the thought out of her head as soon as she sees Sana getting up from their seat at the VIP lounge, heading straight to the dancefloor. Flashes of pink, purple and blue lights graze their skins, as do the bodies of the other clubbers dancing beside them. 

Momo would usually enjoy nights like these since it made her feel free, at least for a while, from their uptight household and surroundings but right now, she could only ever worry about Sana.

Momo snaps out of her thoughts once again when she sees Sana pouting at her.

“What’s wrong?” Momo asks as Sana crosses her arms like a little kid about to have a tantrum.

“Such a spoilsport, Moguri. Do you not want to hang out with me?” Sana inquires and Momo knows it’s Sana’s indirect way of asking her to stay. So Momo playfully shakes her head no and earns an equally playful glare from Sana. They continue this for a few seconds before bursting out laughing from the ridiculousness of it all.

“You know I’d always hang out with you. Even if you did annoy me most of the time.” Momo says, reaching out for Sana’s hand making her do a twirl along with the music. Slowly, they started bopping along with the music, unaware of a silent observer, not too far from them.

Meanwhile, Dahyun arrives just outside an industrial building and double checks if she got the right address since the entire place looks as dead as the night with its busted glass windows, chipping paint and unlit interior.

“Chaeyoung couldn’t be wrong.” Dahyun wonders out loud and reminds herself to not repeat said comment to Chaeyoung or else she will never hear the end of it. So Dahyun walks in the decrepit doors of the building, taking out her phone and using its flashlight to help her maneuver around the place.

She walks further into the building and that’s when she feels the slight pounding of the bass beneath her feet. She crouches down and places a hand on the floor and knows she was indeed at the right place.

Dahyun immediately looks for an entrance going to the basement, preparing herself with what’s to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. :)
> 
> So how about that mystery caller being solved, huh? :))
> 
>  
> 
> Once again, thank you so much for warmly receiving this story and for all the kind words and amusing comments you've been sending.  
> Right now, I can only hope that the next chapters will be as exciting for you as I thought it would be. :)
> 
> Please do let me know what you think and if you're liking it (or not) so far. :))  
> I'm also on Twitter @AJMinatozaki
> 
>  
> 
> I love you, guys. :))  
> See you soon. 


	5. Let's Take Our Time

A sea of bodies dancing against the beat littered the club’s dance floor with Sana’s and Momo’s dancing amongst it. 

Without a care in the world, even the approaching strangers, Sana and Momo danced to their hearts content. It wasn’t until Sana felt a hot breath against the base of the back of her neck that she decided to slow down with her dancing and take a curious peek at her unexpected dance partner.

She turns around and lightly shoves away the intruder, backing away to get closer to Momo who seems to be in the same situation as her. Sana isn’t really in the mood to deal with this. Not like she isn’t used to guys (and girls) coming up to her and Momo like this, thinking they can have their way with them but tonight, Sana just doesn’t have the patience for it.

She continues to evade the guy’s intrusive hands trying to reach out to hold on to her waist, despite her hazy state. Having had enough, Sana grabs Momo’s hand and drags her to bar area where she asks the bartender for another round of drinks. 

“Hey, why did you leave so soon? We were just starting to have fun!” the burly-looking guy trying to dance with Sana says as he walks up to them along with a couple of his friends.

Sana rolls her eyes in response whilst Momo acted like she doesn’t hear anything.

“Oh come on, baby girl. Don’t be like that! We always watch you guys during games at the academy. Don’t tell me you don’t know us?” he smirks as he crosses his arms over his chest.

Sana raises an eyebrow at the guy. She realizes she has indeed seen them around school; just a bunch of Casanova-wannabes flaunting their parents’ money to be exact and she doesn’t really care about any of them to begin with.

Momo settles her drink down and turns to the guys bothering them.

“Oh yeah! I think I’ve seen you before. You were the ones yelling like crazy and ogling at us on the stands!” Momo affirms, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Yet the uninvited guests don’t seem to sense any of it.

“Yeah! So you saw us!” one of the other guys says, taking a step closer.

The sarcastic smile on Momo’s face drops.

“No.”

Sana watches in amusement as Momo turns her back on them and continues to sip on her drink. It’s rare for Momo to be that way, a bitch per se. It’s usually Sana who takes on that role for the both of them, knowing that Momo has always been and will always be a softie.

“You’re a sassy bitch…” the guy speaks once again, a scowl forming on his face, which turned into a disgusting smirk a second later.

“I like that.” He then takes a bold step forward and puts an arm around Momo’s shoulders.

On instinct, Momo turns around and pushes the guy off of her with all that she can, throwing the rest of her drink on his face. Sana steps in front of Momo right away, seeing the guy recovering from being shoved back and walking towards them again.

“You like it rough, huh? I can play that way too.” Sana prepares herself as the guy raises his hand in an act to hit them, when out of nowhere, another person steps in front of her and catches the guy’s incoming hand and quickly twists it to his back in a span of two seconds.

Sana blinks twice, one arm held out defensively in front of Momo who was still standing behind her when she hears the guy yelping in pain as his entire arm is being twisted behind him by the stranger.

“That’s not very nice.” Dahyun says as she lets go of the guy’s arm by pushing him towards his friends and retreats one step back.

Hearing the familiar voice of the captain had Sana sobering up pretty quickly.

“What the fuck?!” the guy says as his posse of two, helps him get back up. He clings on to his arm in pain and sees that the other clubbers have dispersed to the sides, watching the scene unfolding in front of them.

“I suggest you take your friends with you and leave these ladies alone…”

Dahyun stares them down for a while.

“Unless you all want matching arm casts, then I’d be happy to oblige.” She says calmly but undeniably threatening.

Sana, herself, somewhat hopes these guys just went up and left them alone. But at the same time, she kind of wants to see the captain in action. She takes a glance at Momo behind her who seems to be thinking the same as she watches the captain intently.

Even Dahyun isn’t in the mood for this, but when she sees the guy getting back on his feet and marching towards them, she knew she didn’t have much of a chance in settling things diplomatically.

“Oh, I see. So it’s the matching casts then.” Dahyun says as the guy throws a punch directly to her face, which she dodges effortlessly. It was a bit of a funny sight, seeing as Dahyun’s height only reached up to the guy’s shoulder and he’s built like a bull, but it does go in her advantage as she easily dodges the punches being thrown by the other.

She smirks as she dodges an incoming left hook by going under his arm and reappearing behind him and sending a kick to his butt, knocking the guy out of balance and falling face first to the cold, hard floor.

She turns to look at the guy’s friends who seem to be in state of shock, seeing as Dahyun had barely even touched their friend, yet he’s down and out cold in a few seconds.

That doesn’t stop them from being stupid though, as the other guy grabs a billiard stick from a nearby pool table and proceeds on breaking it in half with his thigh, the other flanking him as backup. 

He proceeds on twirling both sticks in his hands in an attempt to intimidate Dahyun who was merely standing and looking on as he approaches.

Raising his makeshift batons at Dahyun, he swings them, aiming at her left side.  
Sana squeezed her eyes shut, thinking the captain will surely get hit this time. She hears a crash and feels Momo flinch behind her, then she opens her eyes, fully expecting Dahyun on the ground.

Instead, she finds the other guy sprawled on top of his other knocked out friend, weapons still in hand. How she did it, Sana regrets not knowing.

But it’s not yet over.

The other guy then marches up to her and grabs her by the coat collar, lifting her up about a couple of feet off the ground. Dahyun smirks as she raises both arms in the air and slides back down to the floor, removing herself from the coat and the guy’s hold.

She moves swiftly, sending her fore knuckles on the opponent’s throat and nose, rendering him incapacitated and choking for air.

“Dahyun, look out!” Dahyun hears Momo squeak out and turns around right away. The first guy has somewhat recovered and is about to strike her with his friend’s makeshift weapon. She reacts quickly and uses the heel of her palm, sending it full force up to his chin and then his chest. He stumbles a couple of steps back before persistently moving forward to attack again, only to have an incoming Dahyun doing a butterfly kick to his direction, her foot hitting him square on his left cheek and jaw, knocking him out instantly.

Dahyun lands right in front of him. She looks around for her coat and puts it back on, coolly brushing of a few specks of dirt from it and smoothing it out. Scanning the place, she eyes every single onlooker as if asking if anyone wants the same fate as the guys.

Everyone else flinched as Dahyun’s gaze passed them and took a step back when she started to move from her position, heading towards the two girls at the bar.

Without another word, Dahyun nods to the direction of the exit and waits for Sana and Momo to walk towards it before flanking them once again, in case anyone tries to come up to them again.

Once out of the door and out of the building, Dahyun unlocks their car with her key fob, opening its door and motioning for Momo and Sana to get in. The two does so without being told and sits inside quietly, waiting for Dahyun to get in the driver’s seat of the car and get them out of there.

\----

Momo plays with her hands nervously as she glances at Dahyun through the rear view mirror. Meanwhile, Sana sat beside her with her eyes closed, nonchalant of the fact that Dahyun may well be furious with them right now.

Dahyun remains silent through the entire ride back to the Minatozaki mansion. Her face remains blank even as she opens the car doors for Sana and Momo and leads them up the house.

“We could’ve handled ourselves just fine, Captain Perve.” Sana spat, trying to cover up her drunken state, as they reach the house’s door.

“Are you sure about that? Cause it didn’t seem like it when you were about to get hit by an actual pervert.” Dahyun scoffs, making Sana narrow her eyes at the captain.

“Yes, I am fucking sure I can handle myself and Momo. I’ve been doing it even before you and your people came barging in here. So please, Captain Kim…” Sana takes a step closer, staring down the captain. “Do yourself a favor and get the hell away from me.”

Dahyun stood her ground, looking directly into Sana’s intense eyes with her own. Their close distance making it easier for Dahyun to smell the mix of alcohol and mint in Sana’s breath.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. Whether you like it or not, I’m keeping you safe and nothing you say or do will get in the way of that.” Sana’s eyes flicker in hesitation, trying to fully register what the young captain has said.

“So do yourself a favor and stop being such a brat. Trust me, it’ll only tire you out trying to get rid of me.” Dahyun challenges before walking past the blonde and opening the door for them.

Momo, who’s been watching the entire time, simply grabs Sana’s hand who has remained speechless after Dahyun’s counter. She leads the two of them in the house and begins to head upstairs.

Dahyun closes the front door behind her and turns around to proceed into the mansion as well, only to be halted by the sight of her subject standing still in the middle of the foyer, eyes directed to the woman walking down the mansion’s staircase.

Even Momo is at a standstill as the woman who looks well into her mid-forties, long, dark brown hair cascading down her shoulders, elegance obvious in her every move, and eyes that has that familiar piercing look, reaches the bottom of the stairs with an unreadable expression on her face.

Sana snaps out of her frozen state when Momo nudges her and puts a hand on her back so they can both bow in greeting to the woman in front of them.

“Where have you been, Sana? It’s way too late for you and Momo to be out and about, don’t you think?” The woman tilts her head in question while the two best friends look down, avoiding the woman’s query.

“I asked you a question, dear.”

Dahyun knows that the use of the word ‘dear’ in this case was not as loving as most would assume.

“I-…”Sana starts but stumbles upon her words.

Noticing the tension in the air, Dahyun decides to step in and walks to where Sana and Momo are standing.

She makes a 90-degree bow at the woman and looks up directly at her.

“I have just brought them back from their cheerleading practice, ma’am. It ran a bit late today, since they have their regional competition coming up.” Dahyun informs the woman. It wasn’t exactly true, but Dahyun can tell that any semblance of the truth may set the said woman off, assuming that this person is who Dahyun assumes she is.

The woman directs her attention to Dahyun, with a look in her eyes as if scrutinizing Dahyun’s entire being.

“Is that so, Miss-?” 

“Dahyun. Captain Kim Dahyun, Special Forces.” Dahyun says, making another bow to Sana’s mother.

“I see…” Dahyun becomes slightly surprised as Mrs. Minatozaki’s features soften and smiles weakly at her.

“You girls should go up and rest. Unless, Momo needs to be home? Won’t your parents look for you?” the woman asks once more.

“No, auntie. Mom and Dad are in Europe for a few days and I told them I might come over here for a while, while they’re gone.” Momo explains in one breath.

Silence hung in the air for a bit until Momo nudges Sana to get a move on, and she does, making her way up the stairs followed by Momo herself.

Dahyun was about to follow them when Mrs. Minatozaki walks toward her and asks for her to follow her. Dahyun does so, taking a glance at Sana who have stopped for a while in the middle of the staircase, watching their interaction.

“This way, Captain.” Mrs. Minatozaki says, gaining Dahyun’s attention and prompting her to follow the woman.

A few moments later, they arrive at the kitchen where a few maids are cleaning up for the day. Mrs. Minatozaki motions for Dahyun to sit on one of the stools situated on the kitchen island near the fridge, where the former goes to and takes out what seems to be a tub of ice cream.

Dahyun observes the woman in front of her as she grabs two small bowls and spoons from one of the cupboards and opens the tub of ice cream in front of her.

Initially, Dahyun thought the woman was cold and somewhat intimidating. Wouldn’t be surprising for someone of her stature, Dahyun thinks. She looks at the woman more and slowly sees what little similarities there is between her and Sana; their piercing, brown eyes that reflect the colors of the setting sun and the same fair, flawless skin.

Dahyun thinks back to her short time with Mr. Minatozaki and realizes that Sana looked a lot more like her father than her mother.

Dahyun shifts in her seat as Mrs. Minatozaki places the bowl of ice cream in front of her and takes a seat on the stool at the other side of the island.

“I hope you like pistachio. I think that’s the only flavor we have in this house, especially since it’s Sana’s and her father’s favorite. I’m fond of vanilla myself, but I guess those two have rubbed off on me.” Mrs. Minatozaki laughs gently as she takes half a spoonful of her ice cream.

Dahyun simply smiles and says a thank you before starting to dig in her own bowl.

“It was admirable, what you did.” The woman begins, making Dahyun look at her questioningly.

The woman looks at Dahyun in a familiar look of amusement as she settles her spoon down for a while.

“Saying that Sana and Momo were at practice when in fact, they weren’t.” Dahyun looks down shyly at her bowl, embarrassed that she’s been caught in a lie.

“I am quite aware of my child’s tantrums but like I said, it’s admirable. I think you’d make a great friend. Which in turn makes me trust you more with my Sana.” Dahyun looks up to the woman in front of her, confused.

Mrs. Minatozaki sees the confused expression on the young captain’s face and smiles before continuing on.

“I believe that one of the hallmarks of a great friend is being there for them in their time of need, and being there to lecture them as well if they ever did anything wrong because you don’t want other people speaking ill of them.” The woman pauses for a while and sees that the other seems to be confused, still.

“I saw you when you got out of the car with them. It looked like my daughter was about to have the scolding of her life, with the face she has on.” Mrs. Minatozaki laughs again and somehow eases the tensed up Dahyun in front of her.

“And she would always talk back whenever I ‘put my nose in her business’ as she says, but as you may have now noticed, she barely spoke when all of you arrived.” The woman explains further.

“I’d assumed you’ve already said something to her. As much as I also trust Momo being around her, I also know that she can sometimes be carried away by Sana’s moods. And ultimately, it had to be you.” Mrs. Minatozaki’s eyes bore into Dahyun’s as if she was an answer she’s been looking for.

“Now, I know that you’re aware of Sana’s run-ins with her previous bodyguards. And I must say that this is the first time I’ve seen her actually looking a tad bit remorseful.” The woman says matter-of-factly.

“If I may be honest with you, Ms. Kim, I think my daughter needs more friends than just Momo. Friends she can trust. Now, I know you’re only here to protect her out of duty but I can tell you’d be a good influence on her.”

Dahyun feels flattered by this, yet she remains quiet, allowing the woman to continue.

“She’s a lot like her father; smart, resourceful, funny AND stubborn. I know her father and I have had lapses with how we raised her, and not many parents can admit to that. Ever since her father died, her distance from me has grown more. But all I want for her right now is to be safe and happy again, and make sure we get justice for her father’s loss. I know it will help her a great deal.” Mrs. Minatozaki reaches out for Dahyun’s hands over the counter of the island, which catches her slightly off-guard.

“And I am asking you to help me. Help me whilst I help in tracking down whoever murdered my husband.”

Dahyun looks straight into the older woman’s eyes and sees how desperate and genuine she is.

“I know my Sana is a lot to deal with, but, I am entrusting her to you. Please.”

Her hold on Dahyun’s hand becomes firmer than before.

“Please take care of my Sana. Please keep her safe.”

Dahyun simply nods in response.

“I will. I promise.”

\----

Momo yawns from her place on top of Sana’s bed as she looks at her best friend pacing back and forth in front of her. If Momo knew any better, she’d say Sana was nervous. Either of her mother or Dahyun. Or both, seeing as the two went off to speak after their run-in earlier.

“Could you stop doing that? You’re making me dizzy.” Momo jokes but doesn’t deter Sana from doing so.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared.” Sana scoffs at the accusation and makes herself sit on the edge of her bed, turning to look at Momo lying comfortably on her bed as if it’s her own.

“I am not scared! What is there to be scared about?” Sana says, her voice slightly raised.

“Well, geez. No need to get all hostile on me. Now tell me what you’re really thinking.” Momo gets up from her place and sits with her legs crossed, waiting for Sana to say something.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t ‘nothing’ me, Sana. I know there’s something bothering you and you gotta tell me.” Momo says with a finality in her tone. She hates it when Sana keeps to herself too much like this. She knows how Sana tends to overthink things and get herself in situations that she has too much pride to apologize for and not everyone understands Sana like she does.

Sana remains quiet and debates whether or not she should talk about it. But in the end she decides not to.

So she climbs up her bed and lies down, head resting on Momo’s lap as she pleads for her to just let it go for now and let them rest for the night.

Momo sighs and nods. She can only hope that Sana eventually opens up like she used to and she’ll be there to listen when she does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates in a week isn't too much, right? haha. :)
> 
> I know everyone has been wondering how SaiDahMo's relationship with each other will unfold and I promise you'll find out in the upcoming chapters. :)
> 
> Also, I uploaded this one because I'm worried I might take a short while to update again, my uni has begun and I'm about to be busy for the next weeks BUT I will do my best to not keep all of you waiting for too long. :)
> 
> Once again, I am deeply grateful for the support of this story. :)  
> In any case, I'm also on Twitter @AJMinatozaki :))
> 
> Stay lovely and I'll see you soon. :*


	6. Don't We Have To Try?

After her talk with Mrs. Minatozaki that night, Dahyun’s resolve strengthened. Yesterday’s events and her confrontation with Sana, proved she couldn’t take it easy on the young heiress anymore.

No. She’s tried asking politely and playing nice but evidently it wasn’t going to be very effective.

Armed with a large quantity of coffee, her laptop and her phone, Dahyun had spent the entire night compiling all the leads she has and reading through the background checks made by the academy’s headmaster and her team.

She’s also made necessary calls to help with Sana’s security detail. Dahyun wasn’t going to go at this with a half-baked plan. She’s going to protect Sana and she’s going to do it in her own terms and in full force.

The captain glanced at the digital clock placed beside her bed and yawns. She could still squeeze in a couple of hours of sleep and decides she can allow herself this much rest tonight.

After all, she’s about to bring in the cavalry.

 

The next morning, Sana wakes up to a pounding headache. 

Drinking on a school night was definitely a terrible idea. She tries to get up but finds herself unable to, especially when Momo has so conveniently draped herself cozily on Sana’s torso.

“Get up, loser. We’re gonna be late for school.” Sana grunts, trying to push Momo off of her. The latter groans in response and continues to lie down like a lifeless body on top of her.

The heiress would have found it adorable had she not been nursing a terrible headache. So she musters all the strength that she could, even using her legs to push Momo off of her completely.

Momo does finally roll over to the other side of the bed, only to return to dreamland.

She sits up on her bed, trying to recollect the events of the previous night and frowns at the thought of her mother almost catching them being in places and doing things they weren’t supposed to be. 

Not that she wasn’t used to it; Sana was always good with brushing things off. Or just being a complete jerk.

But last night was different. Sana had found herself tongue-tied, not to mention embarrassed after Captain Kim had covered up for them and had spoken to her mother afterwards.

It was an understatement to say that Sana was curious about what they had spoken about. Knowing her mother and her amazing bullshit meter, Sana was somehow worried she’d gotten Dahyun in trouble when she helped them out. 

It’s not like she was going to actually thank her for that, is she? She barged in her room and Sana’s not going to forgive her for that easily.

Instead, Sana settles on pretending to not care about it or at least tucks it away at the back of her mind for now and proceeds on waking up Momo again.

\---

“Have I told you how much I hate you?” Momo groans, plopping down on a chair across Sana at the dining table. Sana takes a sip of her orange juice before rolling her eyes at Momo who has begun prodding her breakfast with her fork, lethargically.

“You have. For the nth time since you landed your ass on the floor.” Sana teases.

“I didn’t do it on purpose. You pushed me off the bed, you squirrel-toothed meanie!”

“Only because you wouldn’t get the hell up.” Sana counters, rendering Momo silent.

They’d stayed quiet for a few more moments before Momo speaks up again.

“Uhh, where’s Captain Cutie?”

Sana rolls her eyes at Momo for the second time and for the annoying nickname she’s bestowed on Captain Perve and simply shrugs in response to the question.

“I believe she has left this morning.” Aunt Chun answers Momo, placing a stack of pancakes in front of her.

Momo gapes at the old maid, then turns to look at Sana who tried her best to not look interested at the new information.

“Where did she go, Aunt Chun?” Momo asks nervously, her breakfast long forgotten.

“I am not really sure, young miss. She’d left without a word. I wasn’t even able to see her off and I had only found out from one of the other maids.” Aunt Chun responds, leaving out a few details of Dahyun’s disappearance.

“What?! Is she gone for good? Oh my god, did Auntie fire her?” Momo’s barrage of questions made the old woman suppress a smile.

This makes Sana scoff. That was a new record for her.

Just one day and she’s managed to drive the young captain away. Honestly, she didn’t know what to feel and it makes her agitated. Usually, she’d treat this as a personal victory but this time, she wasn’t even sure if this was any sort of a win for her.

It should be, right? She’d wanted Dahyun to ‘get the hell away’ from her, as she not-so-delicately put last night and now that she’s actually gone, Sana felt somehow betrayed.

“I’m keeping you safe, my ass.” Sana mutters under her breath. She doesn’t admit it but after Dahyun’s declaration of protection last night, she’d slightly hoped she’ll actually pull through with it. But seeing as she’s already fled without a word, Sana was undeniably disappointed.

If Momo was grumpy from being kicked out of bed, now she’s gotten sulkier and evidently sad as well. She was just starting to get to know Dahyun and she knows for a fact the she has a budding attraction towards her.

Momo couldn’t really explain it. There was just something about the young captain and the way she carries herself that makes Momo feel like she’ll always be safe around her. And Momo wasn’t exactly ready to let go of that yet.

The rest of the morning had been uneventful as both girls finished their breakfasts and left for school. Sana’s mood had been awful and whenever friends asked, she’d blame it on her hangover. Even Momo, who had always been chirpy and bouncy in the morning had been relatively quiet and pouty throughout the day.

Sana found herself doodling randomly on her notebook during their last period. Their teacher had been called by the headmaster, leaving their class to their own devices when she hears someone calling her name. She looks up and finds a worried-looking Mina standing in front of her.

“Hey, I tried calling you yesterday but your phone was off?” Mina lets herself sit on the vacant chair in front of Sana. The latter just looks at her, still visibly pissed for yesterday’s events.

Myoui Mina, always the nice and perfect girl that everyone wants to be friends with. Elegantly beautiful, smart and talented. Had she not been annoying as hell, Sana would’ve been actual friends with the girl. She did try though, until she snatched the captain spot right under Sana’s nose and kept changing her routines.

“I was worried.” Mina lets out. “Your new bodyguard, she looked for you and you were gone and I didn’t-” Sana cuts off Mina by holding out her hand in front of her, signaling for her to stop talking. She lets out a breath then leans forward, resting her elbows on her desk.

Mina was already used to Sana’s attitude that she simply waits for her to say something even if she’s fully aware it wasn’t going to be nice.

“Look here, Myoui.” Sana starts, her eyes boring into Mina’s. “Don’t you think for a second that you can just come up to me and pretend to be all concerned because we all know that you aren’t.” Mina tries to keep her composure, keeping her face as neutral as she can.

“And whatever happens to me is really none of your business and I couldn’t care less what you think, so please, fuck off while I’m still asking nicely.” A fake smile graces Sana’s lips before getting up from her seat, leaving Mina speechless in her place.

After a few moments of staring at where Sana previously sat, she gets up from her seat as well and heads out of the classroom in a haste, passing by Sana who was now sitting on top of Momo’s desk and chatting with the brunette.

Mina arrives inside the bathroom, peeking inside each stall to make sure she’s alone before she lets it out. Tears slowly forming as she looks at herself on the mirror, her grip on the sink turning her knuckles white as snow. She stares at her reflection, mocking herself for letting things get to this point.

“Stupid, stupid Mina. Out of all people…” She whispers repeatedly, wiping the tears from her cheeks and her eyes. She opens the tap and splashes her face with the cold water, hoping it would somehow wake her out of her madness.

“Minatozaki Sana… Why did it have to be you?”

 

Incheon Airport

Dahyun had been waiting for a couple of hours now and is on her third cup of coffee for that day. She can already hear Nayeon scolding her about her obsession with the bitter-tasting liquid and it makes her miss her cousin more.

She looks at her wristwatch and yawns the sleep away. They should be here right about now and as if on cue, a voice sounds over the entire airport, announcing the arrival of the plane she’s been waiting for and heads to the terminal announced.

Dahyun stands in front of the terminal’s exit and cranes her neck to look past the outflow of people to find her target.

“Yo, Dubu!” Dahyun whips her head to find the source of the call and sees Chaeyoung jogging towards her, a duffle bag larger than her in tow. Dahyun breaks into a wide grin as she walks to meet the younger girl and seeing the rest of her team walking right behind her.

Chaeyoung immediately jumps to hug Dahyun tightly, letting go of her gigantic duffle bag carelessly in the process. Jeongyeon reaches Dahyun next, taking off her aviators and tucking it inside her leather jacket’s inside pocket before hugging her team leader as well.

While SinB and Tzuyu walked side by side, pulling along their luggage and both giving Dahyun a side-hug.

“God, I’m so glad you guys are here.” Dahyun breathes out in relief. It’s only been two days since she arrived in Seoul, yet it felt like she’s been away from her friends for a week already. “I know it’s such short notice and you guys probably haven’t slept properly yet…”

“We’re glad to see you too, Dubu.” SinB says, resting her arm over Dahyun’s shoulders as a way to assure her that they’re all perfectly fine with this.

Dahyun smiles in relief and moves to grab Chaeyoung’s oversized duffle bag. She heaves at the weight and couldn’t understand how the tiny girl was able to carry the thing, making the younger girl chuckle at her attempt.

“You’re not carrying a dead body in there, are you?” Dahyun raises an eyebrow at the chuckling Chaeyoung who grabs her duffle bag again and flings it over her shoulder easily. 

“Of course not, you think security would let me out?” the short girl grins. “No, it’s just some things I’ll need for this mission.” Dahyun nods in understanding and proceeds on leading her team out of the airport and into a van she had rented for the day. There was no way she was gonna drive these rambunctious bunch around in a luxury car.

After everyone had settled their bags and luggage in the back of the van, they all took their places in the passenger seats with Dahyun taking the wheel.

“So, what’s the plan?” SinB inquires, adjusting in her seat between Tzuyu and Chaeyoung. Dahyun smirks at her friend’s inquiry, glancing beside Jeongyeon who sat beside her in front of the van.

“I don’t like that look.” Jeongyeon narrows her eyes at Dahyun and points at her team leader’s face. “That look right there says you’re scheming. And I’m not sure if I should be scared or what.”

“Yeah, the last time you had that look, Tzuyu and I had to go camp out in that cramped up van for a week.” Chaeyoung huffs, making Tzuyu scoff at her friend.

“Well don’t make it sound like it’s a bad thing being stuck with me. You’re not exactly the most pleasing person to be in a confined space with.”

Dahyun suppresses as smile. She definitely missed them and that also includes their youngests’ constant bickering.

“Alright, everybody chill. You’ll know once we get to the place.” Dahyun smiles at them through her rear view mirror and continues to drive them to their destination, stories and bantering continuing on the entire way.

\---

An apartment, somewhere in Seoul

 

“HELL NO.” Chaeyoung deadpans.

“Nope. Nuh-uh. I’m not doing it. Over my cold, dead body.” Dahyun sighs at Chaeyoung who immediately drops the article of clothing Dahyun handed to her.

“Oh, come on Chaeng! Don’t you think you’re being a tad bit overdramatic?” Jeongyeon grumps. “Besides, I think you’ll look great in it!” Jeongyeon urges the younger girl who has already slumped herself down on the couch. 

Getting no sort of reply from Chaeyoung, Dahyun picks up the clothing and lets herself sit beside the pouting Chaeyoung. 

Chaeyoung squints her eyes at Dahyun, arms crossed in front of her while the latter runs her hand through her dark brown locks.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Chaeng. I’m asking you to do this because you fit the role perfectly and having you in there will raise our chances of finding these guys.” Dahyun answers.

“Seriously, can’t I just be on surveillance duties like the usual?” Chaeyoung was practically pleading at this point that Dahyun almost breaks.

“YOU ARE the surveillance, dumbass.” Jeongyeon gibes at Chaeyoung’s whining.

Before Chaeyoung could even respond, Tzuyu walks in the room with SinB trailing behind her.

“Oh my god…” Chaeyoung gapes at Tzuyu, clearly at awe while Jeongyeon and Dahyun smiles at the Taiwanese girl fondly.

“She looks great, doesn’t she? You picked just the perfect size, Dubu.” SinB affirms their thoughts as she takes the free seat beside Dahyun on the couch. “Color me impressed.” 

Tzuyu adjusts her coat and looks at her unnies apprehensively but remains silent.

“Well, I never thought I’d say this but you look great, Tzuyu.” Jeongyeon compliments as she takes out her phone from her back pocket and started taking a ridiculous amount of pictures of the younger girl.

“What are you doing?” Tzuyu finally spoke.

“Taking pictures of you, DUH.” Jeongyeon answers incredulously, making Tzuyu roll her eyes at her.

“Oh, Nayeon’s going to love this.” She says matter-of-factly, sending the pictures to her girlfriend right away. “Now, Chaeng just needs to get changed too so I can send them to Nayeon as well.”

Dahyun looks at Chaeyoung again, her eyes are still fixed on Tzuyu who has gone to wrestle the phone out of Jeongyeon’s hands.

“So…” Dahyun starts.

Chaeyoung snaps out of her trance-like state, abruptly getting up from her seat and grabbing the clothing from Dahyun’s grasp before walking out of the room.

“This should be fun.” SinB whispers to Dahyun. Needless to say, she was excited to begin their mission. 

Together.

 

It was already Friday, three days after the captain left the Minatozaki Residence and three days since Sana’s mood started dwindling into a downward spiral. She thought that maybe Dahyun only had some sort of cold feet or maybe just went off somewhere without telling anyone, but it has been three days since she’s seen the captain.

She couldn’t ask her mother since she had conveniently left for business on the day of Dahyun’s leave. Aunt Chun, much to Momo’s constant queries, won’t let on anything else and insists she doesn’t know a thing.

Sana doesn’t buy it at first but now that there’s no trace of the captain anywhere, she may be starting to believe it. She shakes her head, hoping to get rid of the thoughts about the captain.

She’s just somehow relieved that it’s already the last school day of the week and tomorrow, she can be off with Momo to somewhere to distract themselves like they would usually do.

The young heiress shifts in her seat as she sees their homeroom teacher entering the room. Sana expects the usual reminders about homework, projects and the likes but she doesn’t expect the two new people coming in their classroom after her.

“Good morning, everyone. Please settle down.” Ms. Choi, their homeroom teacher, begins. She motions for the two people to stand with her in front of the entire class.

“I know that it’s the last school day of the week but we have new students joining us this semester. They are transferees from New York and I hope you can extend your warmest welcome to them and help them around should any of you have any classes with them.” Ms. Choi then looks at the two students and gestures for them to take the floor and introduce themselves.

Momo, who was on the verge of falling asleep, suddenly looked wide-eyed and keen at the new people joining them. It’s been a while since they last had new students in their school.

“Looks like there’s new fish in town.” Momo says as she nudges Sana who was sitting next to her. The blonde simply hums in agreement, taking in the looks of the two.

Sana had first noticed the stark differences between the two. The taller one looks insanely gorgeous and can definitely pass off as a model with her lithe figure and refined features while the smaller one is definitely cute, in a hipster-ish, tiger cub kind of way. She also notices how the former seems to be the more confident one out of the two, taking a step forward first and introducing herself to the rest of the class.

“Hello, everyone. My name is Chou Tzuyu and I came from New York with my friend, Chaeyoung.” Tzuyu slightly turns to her side to look at Chaeyoung, the latter fiddling with her hands in front of her, obviously nervous. Returning her gaze to the class, Tzuyu continues.

“And I hope we can both make new friends here. Please take care of us.” Tzuyu ends her introduction with a bow and earns a series of claps and a few whistles from the boys in the class.

Momo grimaces at the sight of their male classmates, acting like hormone-driven idiots. She remembers their encounter with a few of them a few days ago and shudders at the thought of it. She was definitely thankful that Dahyun had come and helped them before they got into any deeper trouble.

Dahyun.

She sighs as she remembers the young captain again. Momo misses her and it’s been days since she left. Momo wonders if she’ll ever see her again. She rests her chin on her arm and looks at the smaller girl in front, waiting for her to talk.

Tzuyu lightly elbows Chaeyoung after her introduction, urging her to step forward and do the same. Chaeyoung hated things like this or anything that would mean being in front of a lot of people and speaking. That’s why she got into being a top-notch computer geek anyway, so she can avoid as much socialization as possible.

Tzuyu nudges her once more, making her look at the taller girl with imploring eyes but inevitably steps forward. Looking at the expectant faces in front of her, Chaeyoung thought she should just get it over with.

“I’m Son Chaeyoung and its nice to meet you all.” She says in one breath and does a quick bow before returning to Tzuyu’s side. Tzuyu holds back a giggle, seeing how cute Chaeyoung is when shy and makes a note to tease her for it soon.

“Okay then!” Ms. Choi says after their introductions and scans the classroom for any vacant seats. “You can take the seats over there beside Ms. Lee and Ms. Park.”

Once again, Tzuyu takes the lead and heads over to the empty seats with Chaeyoung in tow. She settles her bag above their table and looks at Chaeyoung who took the vacant seat beside hers.

“We still have 15 minutes till your next classes, so please do use that to prepare for them. I’ll see everyone next week.” Ms. Choi grabs her things and makes her way out of the classroom, leaving them to their own devices.

Chaeyoung immediately takes her phone out of her coat pocket and proceeds on texting Dahyun that they’re in.

“Eagle: Great job, you two. We’ll meet after school, we’ll sort out a few things and update you guys earlier. For now, keep an eye on Sana. I know you’ll know what to do. ;)”

“Fucking great.” Chaeyoung huffs as she reads Dahyun’s response. She really can’t believe she’s back in high school. She’s done her best to get herself out of the wretched place before, only to be placed back in the same system that probably has done scarred her for life.

Chaeyoung was withdrawn from her thoughts when Tzuyu placed a hand on her shoulder. She turns to look at the girl and still can’t fully process how pretty and amazing she looks in that uniform while she probably looks more like a legitimate high schooler.

“You alright?” Tzuyu asks in a hushed tone.

The brunette simply nods in response, still feeling uneasy at the position they’re in at the moment. Dahyun had plans, not just for Sana’s safety, but for them to be able to catch the people responsible for Mr. Minatozaki’s death.

And going undercover not only helps in keeping more eyes on Sana, but also keeps everything on the down low in observing everyone around her.

Speaking of the devil, Chaeyoung’s gaze lands on Sana herself, sitting a couple of tables away from them.

“Dahyun unnie was right, she doesn’t look evil.” Tzuyu suddenly speaks. 

“And that’s what makes her more frightening. THAT is what makes her kind of people more frightening.” Chaeyoung shrugs and notices Tzuyu looking at her intently; a signal for her to elaborate on what she had just said.

Chaeyoung purses her lips whilst silence hung between the two of them.

“I just meant, that people who look like they wouldn’t do anything mean is what makes them more effective in being bad, y’know?” The smaller girl sighs. “Because no one would suspect them or even believe it if you say they’re the ones pushing you down the corridors, or throwing trash at you or-or cornering you in bathrooms and dumping all your stuff down the toilet…”

Tzuyu had met Chaeyoung when she and Jeongyeon were drafted to Dahyun’s team and never really knew much about the girl’s past. She’d always seemed to be good in evading any question or conversations that are getting too personal for her comfort, using humor and wit to turn the conversation around.

“They would never believe you when you tell them they’re the ones making your life a living hell…” Chaeyoung trails off, eyes falling into a daze.

Tzuyu realized Chaeyoung was speaking from experience. She’s never had to deal with things like that when she was in high school and so she doesn’t know how it must have felt like for Chaeyoung. Only that it must have been scary.

As much as the two of them bickered about the most menial things, Tzuyu cared for Chaeyoung like family. She reaches for the smaller girl’s hand and intertwines her fingers with them and started rubbing small, soothing circles on the back of Chaeyoung’s palm. It was her way of saying that she won’t leave Chaeyoung behind.   
Or let anyone treat her that way anymore.

“Hey!”

The two girls almost jumped from their seats with the rather loud greeting and sees a bouncy brunette standing beside them. Tzuyu offers the girl a tight-lipped smile while Chaeyoung bows awkwardly from her seat.

“Hirai Momo.” The girl extends both of her hands, reaching for both Chaeyoung and Tzuyu’s for a handshake. “Or just Momo, that’s cool too.”

Tzuyu couldn’t help but chuckle at the girl and her peppy energy.

“It’s nice to meet you, Momo. I’m Tzuyu and this is-“

“Chaeyoung! I remembered.” Momo says proudly and smiles widely at Chaeyoung, the latter blushing at the pretty girl remembering her name.

“So you guys are from New York? Why suddenly move here?” Tzuyu was about to answer when a familiar face appeared right beside Momo.

“Calm down with the questions. You’re scaring them off already, Momo.” Sana turns to look at the two girls sitting in front of her.

“We don’t really mind.” Tzuyu answers. “Actually, Chaeyoung and I moved here so we can learn to live by ourselves and learn the whole ‘being an adult’ thing before we go on to college.”

“So no parents around? At all?” This time, Chaeyoung nods to answer Sana’s question. The latter smiles, finding a common ground with the two.

“Well, me too. Almost.” Sana divulges, earning a concerned look from Momo. She knew Sana meant something else by that. “But hey, what classes do you have today? Maybe we have some in common?”

Tzuyu quickly sifts through her papers to look for hers and Chaeyoung’s schedule and hands it over to Sana. Momo peers at the schedule as well then grins at Chaeyoung who was still holding on to Tzuyu’s hand underneath their table.

“You, cute baby tiger.” Momo points at the flustered Chaeyoung.

“You got Social Studies with me after this.” The perky brunette then turns to look at Tzuyu. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of your girlfriend.”

On instinct, both Tzuyu and Chaeyoung let go of each other’s hand.

“Oh, we’re not like that. We’re just-“ 

“Friends! Best friends, actually.” Tzuyu immediately follows up, unaware of the sudden frown forming on her ‘best friend’s’ face.

“Yeah… Best friends…” Chaeyoung repeats glumly.

“If you say so.” Momo shrugs, completely unconvinced.

“We all do have gym class together and Tzuyu, you have AP Calculus next, and that would be in the classroom next to mine.” Sana informs the two and hands back the paper to Tzuyu.

“I’ll take you there and point you to the necessary places here too.” The two agents were quite surprised with the niceness that Sana and Momo are offering but doesn’t question it. 

It’s better this way and it’ll be easier for them to be around her without being suspicious.

The bell finally rings and Chaeyoung gets dragged by Momo out of their classroom before she can even bid Tzuyu goodbye. The Taiwanese grabs her bag and follows Sana who was waiting for her by the door.

They walked along the halls of the academy and Tzuyu can’t help but feel conscious with the way people are looking at her and Sana. She was so used to them having to be ‘under the radar’ most of the time that she’s forgotten what it’s like to have any attention drawn to her.

“Don’t mind them. They’re just like that because you’re new and it’s been a while since we had new students here. As you know, this academy is quite ‘exclusive’.” Sana says nonchalantly.

“And also because you’re really gorgeous and some of these idiots would think you’d be an easy target to be their arm candy.” Tzuyu couldn’t help but shudder at the idea of teenagers ‘trying it on’ with her or Chaeyoung.

“Don’t worry. I got you and your friend.” Once again, Tzuyu is surprised of the genuine smile given to her by the blonde. “And don’t worry about Momo being all clingy and touchy with…” Sana stops momentarily in her tracks, looking questioningly at Tzuyu.

“Chaeyoung.” Tzuyu answers the unspoken question. “Her name is Son Chaeyoung.”

Sana continues to walk beside Tzuyu again, guiding both of them to turn into another hallway. “Right. Sorry, I get forgetful sometimes. I meant to say Momo is just friendly that way, you understand right?”

Tzuyu simply nods and feels a buzz from her coat pocket. She takes out her phone and was unable to suppress a smile when she saw who it was from.

“Jihyo Sunbaenim: You look really cute in that uniform. Who knew you’d suit looking like a rich spoiled brat? Kekeke :P”

As much as Tzuyu was obviously blushing from the compliment, she also knew that this was Jeongyeon’s doing. She had been aware of Tzuyu’s crush on the captain and has been trying to play matchmaker much to Tzuyu’s constant threats of spiking her food with laxatives should she overdo it.

One of the things that she liked about Jihyo is her ability to make Tzuyu laugh even at the smallest things and even if it’s as corny as that statement. 

“Ooh, someone’s all blushy.” Sana grins at Tzuyu, the latter immediately trying to compose herself. 

“Who?” She asks feigning innocence.

Sana rolls her eyes playfully at her new acquaintance. “Left someone back home in New York?”

Tzuyu can feel Sana’s eyes on her. She needs to sell her ‘new girl’ act so she decides to go along. “Actually, no. It’s just someone I’ve been crushing on for a while now. She was just asking me how my first day is going.”

Sana halts in front of a classroom and Tzuyu’s certain it’s her stop.

“Well, this is your classroom and mine is just the door up ahead. How about we meet up here after class and head to lunch together? We all have the same schedule for lunch anyway.” Sana suggests and Tzuyu thinks things are flowing pretty easily between the two of them.

“That would be nice. Thank you, Sana.” Tzuyu bids the heiress goodbye before separating ways to head to their respective classes.

\---

Chaeyoung had been listening to Momo’s stories about who’s who in their shared Social Studies class. She’s never had this much information overload even from learning code and other languages and it somehow makes her head spin.

It’s not that Momo wasn’t nice, she’s just this really big ball of sunshine and Chaeyoung is a self-described nocturnal that likes peace and quiet. Their teacher finally arrives in their classroom and Chaeyoung could not be more relieved to hear some silence around her.

She was also thankful that her teacher, Ms. Ailee didn’t ask her to introduce herself again. She simply announced the new addition to their class and moved on to their next agenda for the day.

What Chaeyoung didn’t count on were the words “project”, “presentation” and “partners” coming out of Ms. Aillee’s mouth within the next few seconds.

It all happened so fast and Chaeyoung was in a daze, watching and listening as Ms. Ailee randomly picked out students on her class list to be partners.

Next thing she knows she hears her name being called after someone named Nina.

Or was it Tina? She really wasn’t sure anymore until they were told to switch seats to be beside their partners and their permanent seatmates for the remaining of the semester.

Chaeyoung barely moved an inch from her seat; she knows she should go and find her partner now and apparently, her partner had the same idea as she quietly took the seat beside Chaeyoung that Momo used to occupy.

“Hey, I’m Mina. You’re new, right?” Chaeyoung mentally kicks herself for getting her partner’s name wrong and almost saying it out loud. She takes a quick, deep breath before turning her attention to look at Mina; only for it to be taken away just as quickly.

The girl sitting beside her was unbelievably gorgeous. Her dark brown hair is tied neatly into a high ponytail, leaving her face unobscured and free for anyone to see her flawless beauty.

Words seemed to be caught in the back of Chaeyoung’s throat as her eyes unabashedly trailed over the beauty marks on Mina’s face that reminded her of the constellations that she likes to look at every night when she couldn’t sleep; the same constellations that kept her calm on said nights and lulled her to her slumber.

“I’m sorry, what?” Chaeyoung says, finally realizing she’s been staring for too long. Mina smiles at her and she can feel a rare form of peace and kindness from her, making her smile genuinely for the first time since she arrived at the academy.

“I said, my name is Mina. You’re Son Chaeyoung, if I’m not mistaken?” God, she even has a nice voice. Chaeyoung nods, maybe a little too eagerly, making the other chuckle lightly.

“Oh no.” Chaeyoung mutters as Mina’s laugh echoes through her head. 

She just knew.

She’s about to get herself in deep trouble.


	7. Break The Chains

“Okay, spill.” 

Dahyun grips the steering wheel tighter and remains silent, her eyes trained on the road in front of her. Jeongyeon sat beside her on the passenger seat and the two had been driving around Seoul for a while after dropping off Chaeyoung and Tzuyu at the academy while SinB opted to stay at the apartment to do further research and follow up on what leads they all had.

Eventually, Jeongyeon starts to fill the silence between them.

“I know you won’t call all of us here if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. I know you, Dahyun.” The older girl looks at Dahyun seriously. It was true. Dahyun had always been the type to avoid opening up, not wanting to feel like she’s burdening other people and prefers fixing things by herself.

A trait that Nayeon often scolds her for. 

And Jeongyeon knew Dahyun still blamed herself for Mr. Minatozaki’s passing and that she’s keeping it all to herself. Again.

She sighs because she knows that pushing Dahyun too much won’t make her open up and decides to thread on things as lightly as she could.

“You’re keeping something. As to how much, I have no idea but you have to start talking. Maybe the others aren’t outright asking questions but I am.” A small smile ghosts over Dahyun’s lips.

She’s expected this from Jeongyeon. The girl may act like a buffoon most of the time but she’s probably the most perceptive person Dahyun has ever met; one of the reasons why she’d requested for her to be in her team in the first place.

The older girl was starting to get frustrated at Dahyun’s calm demeanor. She almost didn’t notice the younger girl pulling up in front of a two-story building.

“I’ll explain everything later. For now, let’s go get something to eat. I’m starving.” Dahyun says somewhat excitedly before exiting the vehicle, Jeongyeon trails after her immediately.

She follows Dahyun into the structure that Jeongyeon assumes to be a small diner. The captain pushes the front door open, a chime sounding as its old oak surface hits the tiny bell attached atop of its frame.

Jeongyeon’s guess was proven both correct and false; the inside of the place is huge and spacious with black and white checkered tile flooring and as she walked in further, she sees a row of booths situated beside the glass windows on the left side that’s reminiscent of diners from the 70s and 80s. 

Red leather seats and posters of old movies like Grease and Terminator are framed and attached neatly on the brick walls. A classic jukebox sat beside the counter that stretches in a semi-circle with waist-high stools set in front of it.

At the other side of the counter was an ice cream bar and what seems to be a coffee machine and a wide variety of coffee beans in labeled mason jars, neatly arranged on the shelf attached on the brick wall behind it.

Meanwhile, Dahyun was immediately hit by a wave of nostalgia as her nose is hit by the smell of fresh-off-the-pan bacon and pancakes, newly brewed coffee and the sight of a woman coming in for a hug as soon as they locked eyes.

The young captain meets her halfway and embraces her like her life depended on it.

“My goodness, you didn’t tell me you were visiting! Look at you all grown up!” the woman looks like she’s around her mid-fifties, with graying dark brown hair that’s tied up in a messy bun and eyes that radiate such warmth. 

She eventually releases Dahyun and smiles in a way that’s eerily too familiar to Jeongyeon.

“When did you get here?”

“About four days ago…” Dahyun smiles cheekily and earns a playful slap on her arm.

“And you didn’t even bother calling?!”

“I’m sorry! I was just a bit busy, but I’m here now aren’t I? And I’ve missed you.” Dahyun smiles widely this time in a child-like manner that Jeongyeon has rarely seen from her team leader.

“I thought I heard a familiar voice.” This time, a man who seems to be around the woman’s age emerges from the door behind the counter and immediately rounds to where they stood, engulfing Dahyun in what can only be described as a bear hug.

He looked as intimidating as his towering height and if he wasn’t smiling right now, Jeongyeon would feel totally threatened. So she just stood awkwardly behind them, observing the interaction.

“You’re just in time! I just got these new coffee beans shipped from Cuba and I’d just finished brewing it. You’re gonna love it!” the man exclaims making Dahyun chuckle at his excitement.

“You know Nayeon unnie is never going to let you hear the end of it again for teaching me how to drink coffee and getting me addicted to it, right?”

“Oh hush! We are coffee aficionados by nature. Speaking of Nayeon, where is that brat? She didn’t come here with you?” Jeongyeon’s blood ran cold as she’s slowly piecing together who these people in front of her were.

“Uhm, no. I’m actually here on duty and I’m with my friend…” Dahyun turns around to see Jeongyeon smiling uncomfortably at them, her face as pale as a ghost. “…Jeongyeon unnie.”

The redhead was seriously thinking about running away as she registers further the recognizable smile on the woman’s face, the unmistakable familiarity of the man’s dark brown eyes and the daunting sign placed behind the counter that displays the name of the place: Nabong’s Diner and Café.

 

Nabongs

 

That means these people are Dahyun’s aunt and uncle.

 

AND Nayeon’s parents.

 

“H-Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Im…” Jeongyeon greets the two, bowing at a rigid 90-degree angle at the people who bore into the world the most annoying and at the same time most amazing girl she’s met in her entire life.

“Jeongyeon? THE Yoo Jeongyeon?” Mr. Im inquires, suddenly putting on a serious face and crossing his arms over his chest.

“You’re Nayeon’s Jeongyeon?” Mrs. Im steps forward, eyeing the tall girl carefully.

“Y-Yes m-ma’am.” Jeongyeon stammers, standing back up as she looks at them warily.

Dahyun couldn’t hold her laughter anymore hearing her teammate’s unusual stuttering and nervousness, making the two adults break character and into a fit of laughter as well.

“Goodness, child! Breathe!” Mr. Im puts a reassuring arm around Jeongyeon’s shoulders, his laugh booming inside the entire diner. “You look like you’re about to have a heart attack.”

Jeongyeon immediately lets out a shaky breath she’s been holding and clutches her chest as if her heart was gonna bust out of her ribcage and run away.

“Oh, sir, I honestly thought I was about to.” Jeongyeon jokes as she finally breaks into a genuine smile.

“Sir?” the man reels back all of a sudden. “Uh-uh, we’re not having any of that military mumbo-jumbo in here. Uncle Changjoon would do.”

“And that would be Aunt Minsun for me. Trust me, sweetie, it’s nice to finally meet you.” Jeongyeon didn’t expect for the woman to hug her as well. “Nayeon has been talking nonstop about you since you two got together and its taking the both of us to persuade her to introduce us.” Aunt Minsun smiles again, releasing her from the heart-warming hug.

Jeongyeon gives the woman a shy smile and looks at Dahyun who was still laughing with Uncle Changjoon at her reaction. She’s going to get Dahyun for this.

Aunt Minsun leads them to sit in one of the booths situated beside the glass window over-looking the street. Jeongyeon doesn’t even get a chance to grab the menu as the couple excitedly started bringing all sorts of breakfast food on their table.

“Dahyun here used to have a big appetite in the morning but ever since she got into the military academy and then in the Special Forces, she barely eats.” Aunt Minsun reaches to stroke Dahyun’s head lovingly, worry evident in her face, making the young captain blush. She’s missed her family so much and wishes Nayeon was there with them too.

Eventually, the two had to tend to their other customers, finally leaving the two to talk.

“What the fuck, Dubu? You didn’t tell me we’re going to meet Nayeon’s parents!” Jeongyeon hisses as she stuffs a bite of the heavenly waffle into her mouth.

“I’m angry at you right now but this waffle is way too good to be eaten angrily!” She huffs again, taking another bite of the breakfast food.

Dahyun couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of her best friend enjoying the food she and Nayeon had grown up eating.

“You know that this is why Nayeon unnie went to culinary school right? She wanted to help out with the diner and eventually build an actual restaurant along with it.” Dahyun says, making Jeongyeon nod in agreement.

Nayeon had always spoken of wanting to take over their family business when the time came and Jeongyeon wasn’t opposed to the idea of settling down and helping Nayeon out in running the place.

Jeongyeon smiles at the thought of her and Nayeon actually living together and maybe even having a few kids running around.

“Anyway, I brought you here partly because Nayeon unnie called me and told me to bring you here.” Dahyun continues, making Jeongyeon stop mid-chew.

“She did? Why? Does she want me dead?” the raven-haired captain chuckles at the other’s worried questions.

“No, don’t worry. She just thought that since we’re here that I should show you around and take the chance to introduce you to uncle and auntie. And because I feel like this is the safest place for us to discuss what’s going on.” 

Finishing her first cup of coffee (and she reminds herself to tell her uncle that it is indeed great coffee), Dahyun takes a deep breath before looking intently at the lieutenant.

“So far, what we know is that Mr. Minatozaki and his family had always been a target for these sorts of things, that fact we’ve established multiple times.”

“Unfortunately, and even with tight security, they had succeeded in taking him when he was in a New York.” Jeongyeon nods quietly, recalling the details from the mission file. 

“I know I said it was too easy before, when we rescued him… But I actually meant the entire thing screamed weird to me and I think you thought so too.” The lieutenant ponders as she takes a sip of her orange juice. 

Dahyun did. 

Maybe their entire team did, even SinB’s comment about the hideout being undermanned…

Things weren’t making as much sense as it should.

“They took him in broad daylight and never asked for ransom, the hideout was too easy to infiltrate… It was like-.”

“-everything was for show.” Dahyun realizes.

“So what? D’you think he was kidnapped as some sort of… bait?” the lieutenant settles her fork down and looks at the captain curiously.

“Yes and no.”

Dahyun clasps her hands together and takes on a more contemplative look.

“I spoke to Tzuyu a few days ago and she’s gotten us some intel from Captain Park. Mr. Minatozaki has been dabbling in something new for the past three years and has a partner he’s working with.”

“She also said the partner is his head scientist and they could be working on something revolutionary.”

Jeongyeon seems to have forgotten the food in front of her as she tries to piece together the information she has.

“Okay, do we know what it is or who the partner is?”

The captain sighs. She wasn’t sure either and she’s itching to know what it is.

“No. And that’s why we’re spreading out as much as we can in every nook and cranny of the Minatozakis’ life, we need to find out who that person is and what they were working on. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu will be at the academy, keeping extra eyes on Sana and at the same time, everything else going on in there.” Dahyun explains.

“And what about SinB and I?” Jeongyeon inquires.

“SinB will be doing the research and help us with doing checks on everyone in that mansion and the people around the family. The headmaster, I don’t trust him.” Pursing her lips, Dahyun pulls out her phone and shows Jeongyeon scans of the background checks she’s been given by the headmaster.

“He gave these to me. I don’t know what it is but something doesn’t sit well with me about him.” She puts her phone back inside her leather jacket’s pocket and returns her gaze on Jeongyeon.

“That’s why you put Chaeyoung and Tzuyu in there too, isn’t it? To keep an eye on him as well?” Dahyun nods in agreement. The headmaster had the ability and resources to do background checks on everyone and even her, and she’s guessing he could do a lot more than that and deems him as reasonably dangerous.

At this point, everyone is suspicious and Dahyun isn’t taking any chances.

“And you, you’re coming in there with me. Ms. Sana with Ms. Momo can be a handful and I’m gonna need your help with that.” Jeongyeon lets out a chuckle, surprising Dahyun.

“I heard you lost her after a day.” Jeongyeon smirks at the captain teasingly, while the other rolls her eyes on instinct.

“She’s such a pain in the ass, unnie. You should have seen how stubborn she is.” Dahyun breathes in exasperation. “She can even be more stubborn than you and Nayeon unnie, combined.”

Jeongyeon raises her hands in front of defensively, “Hey, I don’t doubt that at all if she’s got you all riled up like that.” She continues to smile at Dahyun, making the latter’s eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“What?” Dahyun shifts in her seat and looks more inquisitively at the redhead.

The lieutenant shakes her head, refusing to spill whatever she’s thinking but kept the same smile on her. “I’m just saying, she’s a challenge to you, that’s all.”

Dahyun tuts at the ambiguity Jeongyeon was displaying and decides to ignore it.

“Come on.” Jeongyeon looks on as Dahyun gets up from her seat and fishes out some bills from her wallet.

“Where are we going?”

“At the Minatozaki mansion. Recheck the perimeter and set up our own security systems. Call SinB, we’ll need her help.”

Following the team leader’s instructions, Jeongyeon reaches for her phone while Dahyun gets a light scolding from her aunt for trying to pay for the food.

 

\---

 

“So here’s my number. If there’s anything you need, like help with your parts of the project, just text me or call me.” Chaeyoung stares at the piece of paper Mina handed over to her. Their class had just ended and they were discussing how they were supposed to do their project.

Well, Mina discussed while Chaeyoung listened and nodded most of the time. Offering small hums of agreement when necessary.

And she does it once more before Mina turns around to head for lunch like everybody else in their class. Feet planted on the floor, the lieutenant looks on as Mina walks away with a few friends, unaware of Momo looking at her curiously.

Momo raises an eyebrow and giggles when Chaeyoung realizes she’s been caught.

“You’re crushing on Mina, aren’t you?”

“WHAT? NO.” Chaeyoung did her best to look adamant but her beet red face was a dead giveaway and Momo finds it cute, placing her arm over the smaller girl’s shoulder and urging her to walk with her.

“Well, your secret is safe with me.” Momo says. “And Mina is really nice and pretty, it wouldn’t be surprising if you did like her.”

“It wouldn’t?” Chaeyoung asks with a timid voice. She’s never felt this way before towards anyone…

Well, she has. 

She just dealt with that one way differently and this was an entirely different situation.

The brunette nods in answer and steers them to the cafeteria where Sana and Tzuyu was waiting for them. Upon reaching their usual table, Momo finds a couple of people talking to Sana, whilst Tzuyu sat beside her, albeit quietly.

“Hey guys! What’s up?” Momo greets, gesturing for Chaeyoung to take the empty seat between her and Tzuyu.

Sana turns to look at Momo and nods at her before looking back to the tall girl she was speaking to.

“Like I was saying, Momo and I already had plans for tomorrow. I’m sorry, Joy.” The one called Joy, juts out her bottom lip into a pout.

“Come on, Sana! You two have been MIA at my parties for months now. I know you’ve been grieving or whatever-” she immediately stops talking when a cold, piercing glare was sent her way by Sana.

“Don’t even go there.” Momo deadpans, making Joy bite her lower lip and back away a bit. No one likes a pissed-off Sana. Or Momo.

“What Joy means,” Another girl who stood next to Joy takes over and steps in front of her, “…is that we really miss hanging out with you and Momo.”

Sana’s features soften. She’s always liked Wendy and she was the nicest out of her and Joy’s clique.

“You know a party isn’t a party if the dancing queens aren’t in attendance, right?” Wendy smiles at the two of them. “Tzuyu and Chaeyoung should come too. You know, get them more acquainted with everyone else.”

Sana looks at the two newcomers before looking back at Wendy and Joy, who now stood behind the former. 

“We’ll think about it.”

Wendy’s smiles brightly and does a little celebratory jump. “Great! At least you’ll think about it. But I really hope we see you guys there.”

Sana does a small smile and bids the two goodbye, Momo does the same.

“Are we going to that party?” Momo asks as soon as the two has walked a reasonable distance away from them. She only ever felt comfortable going to such events with Sana, so her attendance depends on the blonde.

“I don’t feel like going.” Sana responds as if it should have been basic knowledge.

“Unless you two want to go, then Momo can take you.” Sana raises her eyebrows at Tzuyu and Chaeyoung, both of whom, shook their heads without hesitance.

“Chaeng and I aren’t really the partying type…” Tzuyu looks at Chaeyoung who nods in confirmation.

“Great, you can hang out with us tomorrow night then.”

The rest of lunch was relatively quiet, even with Momo’s constant queries about Tzuyu and Chaeyoung’s lives, which the two answers with their prepped answer the day before.

Why Sana took in the two under her wing was surprising to her too. She usually didn’t care about anyone else aside from Momo. 

All she knew was that she felt a sense of familiarity with the two.

More like she saw a lot of her and Momo with the two; not having anyone else but each other. Maybe that’s why she liked them. Sana smiles fondly at her best friend and her two new friends.

Maybe things will be alright.

Maybe.

 

\---

 

“This house could fit my entire neighborhood in it.” SinB comments as she unravels the wire connected to the motion sensor she installed on Sana’s window.

“If it’s even a house. This place is a freaking castle! Nayeon would flip if she sees this.” Jeongyeon was finishing up their work in the mansion. Aunt Chun was more than happy to see Dahyun return and with more people in tow.

The chief maid thinks the house needed to have more people in it anyway, since the owners were usually away. She’s helped them with tapping into the live CCTV feeds placed all over the estate and the mansion, giving them their own sets of eyes and ears.

And now they were almost done with putting motion sensors onto every window and balcony doors.

“So where is the devil incarnate’s mother?” SinB asks while connecting the last of the wires to the signal receiver she’s hidden under Sana’s bedside table. 

“Switzerland, for now. She’s checking every safety deposit boxes under her husband’s name to check if there’s anything there that can help us.”

SinB hums in acknowledgement and wipes her hands on her jeans, smiling at her neat handiwork. “I’m gonna go check if its receiving the signal well on the other side. I’ll be right back.” 

With that, the girl leaves the room and the two to clean up the rest.

“You’re picking her up later, right? You ready?” Jeongyeon looks at Dahyun as she shuts the door of Sana’s room.

“Ready for what? I’m just fetching her.”

“You bailed on her for three days, she probably thinks you’ve left her for good. You think she’ll unleash hell on you when she sees you back?”

The young captain shrugs, starting to feel uneasy. “I’m not sure.”

Jeongyeon purses her lips at the response.

“We’ll see.”

 

\---

 

Sana shuts her locker after depositing her books and taking the ones she’ll need to study over the weekend. The school week was finally over and she was ready to just relax. 

She’d already settled with the fact that there was, in fact, no returning of a certain captain either.

The disappointment still lingers in her chest and it doesn’t make sense to her why she’s thinking about it too much. After all, Captain Kim was just another bodyguard that’s only around her out of duty.

Sure, she was different from the others and was the first one to even try and introduce herself to Sana and be nice to Momo. The others were simply around without any words directed to her and generally treated her like she was something fragile and superficial.

And sure, Dahyun spoke to her like she was an equal that she cared for and wasn’t walking on egg shells around her, called her out on her shit and-

Wait…

Sana shakes her head in confusion. Goosebumps start to litter her arms; how can she possibly still be thinking about this? This was harder than she thought and she needs to stop thinking about Dahyun or else she’ll obsess over it. 

She’s gone, she should be easy to forget, right?

Sana sighs knowing she doesn’t have a concrete answer, as she reaches the entrance of their academy and proceeds on looking for Momo and the others. She finds her best friend sitting on a bench and seems to be in the middle of telling a story, making big gestures as she spoke while Tzuyu and Chaeyoung looked invested in whatever Momo was telling them.

A chuckle escapes her lips and cannot wait to start the weekend, bearing in mind to invite Tzuyu and Chaeyoung to sleep over at her place. She starts to make her way towards them, taking an excited step after another, only to be knocked off balance by some over-excited students shoving each other playfully.

She closes her eyes and prepares herself for the painful fall that doesn’t come; only a couple of arms enveloping her with warmth.

“Hey! Watch yourself!” the familiar voice rang in Sana’s ears, making her heartbeat go on a sudden overdrive. 

Her eyes immediately flew open, letting her gaze rest on her savior.


	8. Reasons

“Miss me?” It took a beat and half for Sana to fully process her current position, staring up at the person holding her protectively. She blinks her eyes multiple times to see if what she’s seeing is not just some figment of her imagination.

“Well, I suppose since you’re staring at me like that then that’s a yes.” The girl slowly assists Sana back to her feet, the latter still unsure of how to react and unaware of the amount of eyes that has now focused on them.

The other girl’s mouth quirk to the side, looking at the still surprised Sana in front of her. “Oh come on! No hug?”

“What are you doing here, Eunha?” Momo was beside Sana in a flash, a hint of anger evident on her face. Eunha scoffs and rolls her eyes mockingly at Momo.

“Nice to see you too, Moguri.”

“Uh-uh, you do not get to call me that. What are you even doing here? I thought you moved far away, preferably to hell?” Momo grits, reaching for Sana’s hand and pulling her behind her.

“Is that really how you’re gonna talk to your best friend’s first love?” Eunha shifts her weight to her left foot and peeks at Sana over Momo’s shoulder, still looking at her like a deer caught in front of headlights. “You’re really going to let her talk to me like that? We did have history.”

She takes a bold step forward, eyes fixated solely on the blonde.

“A very ‘fun’ history.”

Sana doesn’t react fast enough; all she sees is a blur which is Momo, launching herself forward at Eunha and trying to land a hit on her. Thank heavens for Tzuyu and, surprisingly, Chaeyoung’s fast reflexes at grabbing Momo before she can actually reach the dark-haired girl.

“This is quite a welcome, huh?” Eunha taunts. “I’ll be seeing you around again, Sana.”

The girl walks away, pleased with the commotion she has created. The two lieutenants release Momo from their hold, the latter immediately coming to Sana’s side and a worried expression replacing her previously scowling one.

“Are you okay?” Sana seems to snap out from her daze as she looks at Momo, and then at Tzuyu and Chaeyoung. She bites the inside of her cheek, trying to hold back a fit. When she said she wanted to distract herself, she didn’t mean for a certain nightmare to come back.

Why won’t things go her way, for once?

The last year has been a complete whirlwind of events and she feels like she’s in some sort of hellish limbo that she can’t get out of. She looks at Momo again and reaches for her hand, holding on it firmly as if to say she’s fine.

It was actually more like she’s reassuring herself more than Momo. She can’t help but chuckle at herself, earning a questioning look from the brunette.

“Let’s just go.”

 

\---

 

Dahyun had just pulled up in front of the academy’s main building, ready to pick up Sana and maybe Momo when she sees the altercation happening. She was about to get out of the car when she saw Momo lunging at someone, Tzuyu and Chaeyoung were luckily quick on their feet and held the girl back.

She wonders who the girl is, snapping a couple of photos of her on her phone as the mystery person walked away.

The captain looks back on where her subject stood frozen. She feels a pang of guilt hit her as she looks at Sana trying her best to compose herself in front of everyone while Momo held her hand and spoke to Tzuyu and Chaeyoung.

Needless to say, Dahyun was worried.

She takes a deep breath and unbuckles her seatbelt.

Meanwhile, Sana does invite Tzuyu and Chaeyoung to stay over at her house for the night. The two politely declines, saying they still have to finish unpacking at their new home and asks for a rain check, which Sana disappointedly nods in agreement to.

After the whole ordeal with Eunha, all she wanted was some company and a distraction. Suddenly, that party sounded really tempting.

Momo bids her goodbye as well, promising to come over right after dropping and picking up a few things from her house. Sana watches as the brunette jogs over to her ride before making her way to hers.

She sees the familiar black car that takes her home and takes her time in walking towards it, mindlessly kicking a pebble until she reaches the backseat door.

Reaching for the door handle, another hand beats her to it and opens the door for her. She squeezes her eyes shut and breathes out a puff of air in annoyance. 

“Who the fuck is it now? UGH!” She groans, her lower lip disappearing underneath her pearly whites. She was definitely going to give this person her piece of mind.

“Wow. Bad day?” Sana freezes for the second time that day. She immediately opens her eyes and sees Dahyun standing beside her, looking at her with concern. Her heartrate suddenly rose again, only this time, it wasn’t bad.

“Hi.” A lopsided grin graces Dahyun’s lips while Sana looked at her, dumbfounded.

“Hi- I mean- What are you doing here? I thought you left?” Dahyun’s grin disappears and is replaced by an apologetic smile.

“I did, kind of…”

Sana remains still, eyes transfixed on Dahyun as if she’s taking in all of her features and the way she spoke.

“I just had to take care of a few things… But I promise, I’m not going anywhere anymore.” A sudden wave of relief washes over Sana. It somehow felt like her first breath of air after being held underwater for a while.

But Sana being Sana, she immediately re-gathers herself and rolls her eyes at Dahyun.  
“Psh! As if I care. I wanna go home.” Sana does her best to look nonchalant, getting in the opened car door and letting out a breath as soon as Dahyun closed the door behind her.

“Okay then.” 

She can hear Dahyun getting in the driver’s seat and buckling her seatbelt, while Sana looked at her intently through the rearview mirror, somehow feeling like the captain will vanish into thin air if she takes her eyes off of her for even a second.

“Careful now, Ms. Sana.” Dahyun grins as she meets Sana’s eyes through the mirror, flustering the latter for being caught with her blatant staring. “One might think you actually missed me.”

The heiress can feel the heat creeping up her cheeks and mentally kicks herself for not coming up with a good comeback once again. 

Dahyun chuckles when she sees Sana struggle to find somewhere else to look at other than her, before settling with staring out the car window, still quiet.

“Now buckle up, princess.”

 

Princess… She called me ‘princess’… 

 

“What the hell, Minatozaki?” Sana whispers to herself; the smile forming on her lips, getting more difficult to wipe away with each passing second.

 

\---

 

“What the fuck do you mean on lockdown?!” Sana scowls, pacing in front of Dahyun who stood opposite her in the living room.

Dahyun knew she’d react this way. The girl in front of her is now the complete opposite of the flustered one that she picked up from the academy.

“You heard me. You’re not allowed to go out of this house aside from attending school, until this whole thing is sorted out.” The captain calmly explains and the heiress stops her pacing abruptly and turns to look at her spitefully.

Her plans of distracting herself has basically gone out of the window.

“You can’t do that! I have a life; in case you haven’t noticed.” Sana spat, crossing her arms in front of her.

“A life that I need to protect! I promised you and your mother that I would keep you safe. And I intend to do that to the best of my abilities.” Dahyun steps forward, her eyes boring through Sana’s piercing brown ones.

“Even if that means I have to chain you to this house.”

Sana can feel her temper rising, fists clenching that her knuckles have almost turned white. How dare her order her around and tell her what to do?

“You can’t tell me what to do!” Sana yells now, her voice echoing through the room.

The captain has prepared herself for this. She needs to put her foot down and she needs to do her job. Holding her head up higher and making sure that she kept her eye contact, Dahyun smirks at Sana.

The action, obviously taking the heiress in surprise.

“Well, you’re in for a rude awakening, Ms. Sana.” It was now her turn to cross her arms over her chest as she takes another step forward, her face just a few mere inches away from Sana’s.

The heiress keeps getting pulled away from her anger, for she can feel the hot breath that is coming out of Dahyun’s slightly agape mouth when she stepped closer; her breath having a faint smell of coffee and chocolate.

In a low, yet intimidating voice, Dahyun spoke. “Let me tell you how the chain of command is going to work around here: I tell you what to do and YOU DO IT. End of chain.”

They held their eye contact for what seemed like forever. Sana was having a difficult time trying to read through the captain’s rather intimidating expression right now; which was another first.

She’d always been good with seeing right through people and their intentions, making it easier for her to manipulate them and get what she wants. And it infuriates her to no end that she can’t seem to do it with Dahyun.

At times, the captain will have that annoying smirk that she’d very much like to wipe off her face. Sometimes she’ll look at Sana like she’s the most important thing in the world and other times, like this one, she’d look at her with the most unreadable expression and stare her down, challenging her; something no one has ever done to her before.

At a loss for words, Sana does what she feels would best soothe her frustrations: sending a low kick on Dahyun’s shin.

But Sana seems to have forgotten who she’s dealing with as Dahyun catches her foot effortlessly. Sana gapes at the captain and lets out a yelp when the latter releases her foot and tackles her waist to put her over her shoulder.

“PUT ME DOWN, YOU JERK!” Sana squirms in Dahyun’s hold, as the latter effortlessly carries her out of the living room and up the stairs.

“Stop flailing or we’ll both fall to our deaths.” Dahyun grunts, Sana’s movements making it difficult for her to accomplish her task. She was starting to heave when they reached the top of the stairs and Sana was still going with her streak of curses towards Dahyun.

Upon reaching the heiress’s room, Dahyun opens the door and sets her down on her bed. “You are to stay in this house this weekend and the weekends after that. If you’re planning on sneaking out, don’t bother. Trust me when I say that I will always find you.”

Dahyun says the last words with such conviction before immediately walking out of the room and shutting the door firmly.

Sana brushes off the stray hairs that has made their way towards her face when Dahyun carried her. She scoffs at the other’s audacity to say these things. 

No one tells Minatozaki Sana what to do.

And she’s gonna prove it.

\---

Dahyun chugs a tall glass of water, somehow exhausted with her conversation with Sana. Well, it was mostly because of carrying a ballistic Sana up to her room before she can even make a run for it.

“Captain Cutie?”

The captain nearly dropped her glass when she heard the voice. She turns around quickly and sees Momo standing with an awed expression at the entrance of the kitchen, a sports bag slung over her shoulder.

She drops the bag and makes her way over the captain while Dahyun settles the glass on the counter behind her. It catches her off-guard when the brunette engulfs her in a hug, arms wrapped around her waist tightly.

“You came back.” Momo mumbles into her shirt. Dahyun couldn’t help but smile at the girl’s actions. She deeply appreciated how Momo was affectionate towards her and how she feels at ease with her, opposite to how Sana makes her feel; which is on edge most of the time.

The captain doesn’t understand it much but she finds her adorable in a way. So she wraps her arms around Momo’s shoulder, her right hand unconsciously stroking the back of the other’s head. “Yes, I’m back.”

Momo peels herself slightly off of Dahyun, a blush evident on her cheeks. “Where were you? You just left. I thought you weren’t going to come back.”

Dahyun releases Momo from the embrace and leans back on the counter, much to the latter’s dismay. “I had to tend to a few things and like I told Ms. Sana, I’m not going anywhere from now on. Not until this is over, at least.”

“Oh. Okay.” Momo says meekly, still looking at the captain.

“Speaking of which, she’s upstairs. If she’s grumpy, that would be because of me.” Dahyun gives her a tight-lipped smile, knowing she has roused the beast.

“Why? What happened?” Momo asks with genuine concern.

Slipping her hands into her jean pockets, Dahyun sighs. “I told her she’s not allowed to go out besides going to school. She went- “

“I know. That’s how she’s been these past months…” Momo interjects. She makes a move towards Dahyun’s side with her arm brushing against the captain’s and leaning against the counter as well. Dahyun looks at her, waiting for her to say something.

“I know I said that I’d help in any way I can to keep Sana safe and the last time, I wasn’t very successful in that.” Momo starts. 

“So I guess the least I can do is tell you everything that’s happened while you weren’t here.” She was hesitant and Dahyun could tell with the way she picked on her lower lip with her fingers; a nervous habit she’s seen Chaeyoung do on multiple occasions as well.

“That would be very helpful, Momo.” Dahyun smiles at Momo, making the other blush some more.

“Alright, uhm, well nothing much really. Sana and I returned to the cheerleading team. I mean we couldn’t really just quit, she’s still vice-captain and we’re so close to regionals so they can’t just lose two cheerleaders. Sana may be a bitch, but not all the time.” Momo sighs, remembering the day they showed up back in practice, mostly because their other teammates and even Mina has asked them to return. 

When they did return, however, Momo couldn’t count how many times she’s stopped Sana from picking a fight with Mina during practices.

Dahyun simply nods, urging Momo to continue.

“And oh, we have two new classmates that arrived today. They’re from New York.” Momo suddenly lets out a giggle, surprising Dahyun a bit. “They’re both really cute actually. They’re best friends like Sana and I. Though I think there’s something else going on between those two.”

“Really?” Dahyun asks in amusement, she’s never really had that perspective on their youngest team members.

Momo smiles widely, excitement starting to build up in her voice. “Yeah! They’re really cute because the other is so tall, like model-tall and really gorgeous and the other is short and sooooo cute!”

Dahyun couldn’t hold back her chuckle. It was good that Jeongyeon wasn’t around, or else she’ll definitely use that against Chaeyoung.

“I’m so excited for you to meet them, you’ll love them.” The brunette says with full certainty.

“I bet I will.” Dahyun answers, her lips quirking into a small smile.

Momo stands back up and goes to pick up her sports bag before turning to look at Dahyun once more. “There’s one more thing…”

The captain shifts in her place and hums in question.

“This afternoon, I don’t know if you saw or anything, but someone else came back to school…” Momo starts, her expression turning dark and Dahyun knew who she’s speaking about but decides to let Momo continue her story before saying anything.

“Her name is Eunha and she and Sana used to date. She was actually her first love.”

Oh, so that’s who it was. Dahyun thinks.

“Well, they were doing great at first, you know? They were like the IT couple of the academy; Sana is the vice-head cheerleader and Eunha is this superstar athlete in the track team.”

Dahyun kept mum, piecing together why Sana looked the way she did earlier that afternoon.

“But Eunha cheated on her with a girl from another academy. For a pretty long time, she snuck around and made pretty good excuses to cover it up too…” Momo trails off.

“Until Sana decided to do a surprise visit to her apartment since she needed all the support she could get and she caught her red-handed. And it was even a week after her father died, you know? So it took a lot out of Sana. I don’t know how she does it, really…” The brunette grips the strap of her bag closer to her.

“What?” Dahyun asks.

“Being strong through all of this? Keeping up that façade that she’s fine? Yeah she lashes out every now and then but, she’s only doing that because she never wanted to show anyone she’s tired or scared or hurt and I don’t think anyone else sees or understands that.” Momo’s expression turns more solemn as she continued to speak.

“I’ve known Sana since we were kids, she has always been the stronger one out of the two of us; the one that always takes care of me and defends me and this time, I want to be strong for her. I want her to know that I can take care of her too.”

Dahyun smiles fondly at Momo, her heart swelling at the beautiful display of friendship and care she has for Sana.

“So that’s why you almost went Buffy on her earlier?” Dahyun asks cheekily, wanting to lighten the mood a bit.

Momo, on the other hand, looks more flustered than she did a while ago. “So you did see! Well, she’s really horrible and deserves it.” Momo laughs at Momo’s cuteness.

“Okay, let’s calm down a bit, Hulk.” Dahyun continues to joke and playfully nudges the brunette who now feigns offense. “Do I look like a bulky, green mutant to you?” 

Dahyun shrugs and Momo knows she should go. She really doesn’t want to and Dahyun senses it.

“What are you still standing here for? Take care of her. Go.” Dahyun urges Momo, motioning for her to seek Sana in her room already. The other smiles and immediately makes her way upstairs to her best friend.

\---

Chaeyoung practically passes out as soon as her back hits the couch of their apartment, making SinB chuckle at the younger girl.

“I guess they were a handful huh?” She inquires, returning her gaze to her laptop as soon as she hears a muffled grumble from Chaeyoung. She has been stuck in the apartment since that afternoon and to be honest, her entire body has been cramping.

She decides to take a break, removing herself from her seat at the dining table to stretch and make her way to Chaeyoung, lifting off the younger’s legs and settling underneath them.

Tzuyu also returns to the living room, already changed into an oversized white shirt and red booty shorts.

“So how’s our wittle students’ first day?” SinB coos and reaches Chaeyoung’s cheek, pinching it lightly before the other swats her hand away. “Stop that! Or I’ll kick your annoying ass off this couch.”

But SinB doesn’t stop. She kept poking Chaeyoung’s cheek until the latter actually shoves her off the couch with her foot, earning an amused chuckle from Tzuyu.

“Where’s Dahyun and Jeongyeon unnie? Tzuyu asks, looking at SinB who still sat on the floor faking offense at being pushed off the couch by a grumpy Chaeyoung.

“Oh, Dahyun is back at the mansion and Jeongyeon is patrolling the grounds of the estate and checking the surveillance systems we put up. The two of us will take turns in patrolling while you two get to stay at the school with the devil.” SinB gets up from the floor and takes a seat beside Tzuyu on the other couch.

Tzuyu nods, looking at Chaeyoung who has now buried her face on the pillows, unmoving. “I don’t think Ms. Sana is evil. I mean so far, she’s been nothing but nice to Chaeyoung and I. She took us on a mini tour of the academy and even invited us to stay over her house for the night.”

SinB leans on the arm rest beside her, focusing on Tzuyu. It seemed like Chaeyoung wasn’t gonna say anything for a while anyway. “Really? Well, I swear the reports on her make her sound like she may have created hell herself. Hmm, maybe she’s nicer to friends?”

Tzuyu shrugs once again, glancing at SinB.

“Maybe. I wonder how everything’s going with her now? She did leave upset earlier…”

“Yeah, I wonder who that ‘Eunha’ girl was.” Chaeyoung finally spoke, turning her head to look at the two. “Ms. Momo did seem pretty angry too, if you hadn’t caught her first she would’ve probably beat her up pretty good.”

“Alright, who is this ‘Eunha’? I don’t remember seeing her on the files.” SinB raises an eyebrow at the two who funnily shrugged at the same time.

“I don’t know either. All I heard was her saying she’s Ms. Sana’s first love?” Tzuyu says, making Chaeyoung grimace. “Now that one, she looks like she’s up to no good. Did you see that smirk on her face? If she can unnerve Satan’s spawn, then I can only assume she’s somewhat worse.”

“I second that.” SinB nods in agreement. “Anyway, who wants dinner? We can order in.”

Chaeyoung immediately perks up hearing the word ‘food’ and immediately got up from the couch. Tzuyu on the other hand, sat still on the other couch, staring at her phone. She hasn’t replied to Jihyo yet when she texted her that morning.

One would think she’d respond right away to her long time crush but she’s Tzuyu and she doesn’t do things that way. Thinking that now is the right time to respond, the other captain seems to have beaten her to it as another text pops up on Tzuyu’s screen.

“Jihyo-sunbaenim: Hey Yoda! How was your first day? I hope you’re adjusting well in returning to high school, but then again, it’s YOU. So I know you’ll always do well. ”

She bites her lower lip, trying not to make her smile too obvious.

“Jihyo-sunbaenim: Anyway, I’m still in Japan and it’s getting more difficult to get information since everyone seems to really want to keep the lid shut on this project. It’s taking a while to get the bosses to give us a warrant and I’m starting to think that some of them are somehow involved in this too.”

Tzuyu quickly types her response and hits send.

“ChouTzu: My first day went well, thank you for asking sunbaenim. I hope you resolve things over there soon and please keep safe.”

“’Please keep safe’? Don’t you think your response is too dry?” Tzuyu jumps in surprise then turns to look behind her and sees a smirking Jeongyeon leaning on her elbows on the back of the couch.

“Unnie! You almost gave me a heart attack!” Tzuyu puts a hand over her chest, feeling the rapid beating in her chest. “When did you get here?” 

Jeongyeon simply shrugs.

“Just now. But then I saw you all blushy and smiley, I needed to confirm if you’re texting who I think you were.”

“Nosey.” Tzuyu murmurs, earning a laugh from Jeongyeon who was now heading for the kitchen. “You got that right!”

Tzuyu returns her gaze on the screen of her phone and looks at her message intently before finally deciding to delete all of it and write a new one.

“ChouTzu: First day was okay, thank you for asking. I really hope you find what you’re looking for there so you can maybe come here and help us? Or maybe to just hang out? You keep safe there, sunbaenim.”

Tzuyu finally sends the text and gets a response a full minute later.

“Jihyo-sunbaenim: Me? Fly to another country to hang out with Chou Tzuyu? That’s definitely workable. ;)”

Okay. Was Jihyo flirting with her? Tzuyu doesn’t know. She has as much experience with relationships as Chaeyoung and never really bothered to pursue such when she got in the forces and met her team.

But it still makes her blush, regardless.

“ChouTzu: Then maybe you should get that information so we can hang out already.”

Tzuyu texts back and she swears she’s never felt this light-hearted before.

“And how is our little cub?” Jeongyeon reaches to ruffle Chaeyoung’s long brown locks while she looked over the pamphlet for the Chinese takeout they’re about to order.

“Well, we met Ms. Sana and Ms. Momo. I got a couple of classes with them and I have this project and I’m partnered with someone. That’s it.” Chaeyoung tries to play it cool, especially on the last part. 

Out of everyone, Jeongyeon has been bugging her nonstop to get herself out there and actually date.

And having the knowledge that she’s ‘out there’ and is paired up with someone so ridiculously gorgeous, Jeongyeon will never stop badgering her about it.

But nothing escapes Jeongyeon’s sharp senses. “So who’s the partner?”

“I-It’s no one. No one important.” Chaeyoung says way too quickly, eyes still focused on the pamphlet and she knows she’s being cornered, and fast. Jeongyeon simply narrows her eyes at her suspiciously and Chaeyoung can feel her circling the counter where she stood in the kitchen.

Before she knows it, Jeongyeon has slipped her hands on both pockets of her coat and brings out the piece of paper that Mina has given her.

“Myoui Mina, huh? Nice name. Is she as pretty as her name?” Jeongyeon reads the name out loud before looking at Chaeyoung again.

“Come on, unnie. Give it back.” The shorter girl pleads, reaching for the paper that Jeongyeon has quickly raised up in the air and out of her reach. “Okay, now that’s just mean. How’d you even know it was in my pocket?”

“Well first of all, Lieutenant Obvious, you’ve been feeling your pockets a lot since I got here.” Jeongyeon says, still holding on to the piece of paper out of Chaeyoung’s reach.

“Myoui Mina; in the same year as Ms. Sana and Ms. Momo. Cheer captain, ballet dancer, an honor student and DEFINITELY gorgeous.” Chaeyoung whips her head and sees SinB in front of her laptop once again, typing away and seeing all the information about her partner. 

“I cannot believe you, guys.” Chaeyoung scoffs.

“Let me see that.” Jeongyeon swiftly moves to SinB’s side and lets out a ‘wow’ when she sees what’s on her screen.

“Chaeng, this girl is really gorgeous. How did you not stutter the entire time you were with her?” Jeongyeon jests, grabbing Tzuyu’s attention who now made her way to the kitchen as well.

“I DID NOT STUTTER.” She crosses her arms over her chest and pouts like a kid. “I mean, why would I, I barely even said anything.” SinB and Jeongyeon bursts out laughing, not because they think it’s ridiculous but because they think Chaeyoung is so adorable.

Tzuyu thinks so too, as she goes beside Chaeyoung and places an arm over her shoulders. “Is she nice?”

“More than nice, Tzuyu. She literally took the reins on the entire thing and never pushed me to talk.” Tzuyu nods her head, encouraging her to share more. “She asked me ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions as if she knew I’d be confident to answer those instead.”

The two older girls let out an ‘aww’ and made Chaeyoung roll her eyes at them. They’re gonna continue doing this and she knows it.

\---

Sana yawns, feeling her muscles from her hands to the tips of her toes as she stretches on her bed. She looks at the clock on her bedside table and knows she has practically slept more than half of Saturday away.

Apparently, Momo has too as Sana sees her still buried and lightly snoring under the massive amount of pillows and the duvet.

She remembers having spent the entirety of the previous night ranting to Momo and how her week managed to go from bad to worse. She still can’t believe that Eunha had the audacity to return after everything she did and now she can’t even go out to distract herself from it.

Momo cooed at her, trying to calm her down and urging her to just pig out with her and watch movies throughout the night. Sana relented to her best friend’s request seeing as she doesn’t really have much choice at the moment.

But she’ll definitely do something.

Anything.

Then she remembers Joy’s invitation to her house party for that Saturday night. She grabs her phone and quickly scrolls through her contacts list until she finds who she’s looking for.

She settles her phone down after sending a text. 

Not even two minutes later, it buzzes.

 

“Joy Park: Now I’m definitely going all out if you girls are gonna be there. ;)”

 

Great. Now she and Momo have a party to get ready for. Next order of business is how to get out of the house undetected. 

Technically, she still has five hours before the party starts and about two more hours after that before it’s sure to be in full swing but decides to peel herself off her bed already and get a very late breakfast.

She doesn’t bother waking Momo up because she knows if she wants her to be awake for the rest of the night, she’s gonna have to leave her in hibernation for a while.

Reaching the kitchen downstairs, she finds Aunt Chun placing the last of the polished silverware in one of the cupboards.

“Good morning.” Aunt Chun greets with a smile. “Or should I say good afternoon?” 

Sana nods with a small smile and sits herself on the stool, leaning on the island counter. Without a word, the old woman began whipping up some scrambled eggs, toast and sausages and a tall glass of orange juice or most commonly known as Sana’s favorite breakfast. 

It was honestly really late for breakfast but Aunt Chun felt that giving Sana even the smallest form of comfort through her favorite food is something that the younger girl needs at the moment.

The old woman smiles at Sana fondly as the latter breaks into a genuine smile upon seeing the food in front of her and eating it heartily.

“Any plans for today, miss?” Aunt Chun inquires. She knew Sana was not allowed to leave the premises and she also knew why. Captain Kim had spoken to her when she returned and explained the dangers of letting Sana out in the open. 

The seriousness of the situation has dawned on the old woman even before agents and military personnel started coming around. After all, she was the one who had to deliver the news of her father’s abduction and then his death to Sana.

Sana shrugs non-committedly, her eyes never leaving her plate. The chief maid decided against prodding any further, knowing that even if the heiress did plan something, her determined personality will make it happen.

She unconsciously lets out a small laugh, gaining the attention of the younger girl sitting opposite her.

“Oh don’t mind me, miss. I’m just an old woman having her nostalgic moment. It seems only yesterday when you were just a baby and I was still holding you in my arms. Oh you were such a precious and well-behaved baby.” Aunt Chun smiles some more when she sees Sana’s features soften at this.

“So you’re saying I’m not anymore?” Sana asks cheekily and playfully narrows her eyes at the chief maid.

“You will always be precious, miss. Well-behaved? Not so much.” They both let out a laugh and as soon as the laughter dies, Aunt Chun reaches to tuck a strand of stray hair behind Sana’s ear.

“You did grow up into an amazing, kind-hearted and smart young lady. I hope you don’t forget that.” Sana knew the old woman was pertaining to her recent shenanigans and attitude. She doesn’t respond anymore and continues on to finish her food while Aunt Chun went back to finish her chores.

\---

*a few hours later*

Momo grunts as she feels something poking her cheek. She was really enjoying her dream about being on a carnival date with Dahyun when she felt the annoying sensation hitting her skin.

Slowly opening her eyes, she sees a grinning Sana sitting beside her on the bed. She knew that grin. That grin meant she’s up to something and that something is really bad.

Momo immediately grabs Sana’s wrist and pulls the blonde towards her before engulfing her in a koala hug. “No Sana. More sleep.” The brunette simply mumbles on Sana’s shoulder.

“Get up, Moguri. We’re going out.” Sana says excitedly as she struggles to get out of Momo’s grip.

The sleepy brunette perks up from what Sana had said and quickly sits up, not minding that her hair looks like a bird’s nest right now.

“Out? I thought we were going to stay home all weekend? And aren’t you like, banned from going out?” Sana rolls her eyes at her best friend. She scoots closer and puts on a smile while trying to brush Momo’s hair with her fingers.

“Change of plans. We’re going out tonight AND we’re going to Joy’s party. So get your cute butt up and go get ready.” 

Momo bites her lower lip, torn on what to do. Joy’s parties have always been one of the craziest ones being thrown by anyone from their academy. The amount of alcohol consumed (and sometimes the drugs, though the two of them have never participated in it) gets out of hand most of the time.

With Sana’s current state, she knows she’s going to use this opportunity to get wasted.

“But how are we going to get out? I thought you said Captain Cutie rigged the entire house with security alarms? What if we get caught? We’d be in so much trouble, Sana.”

Sana simply got up and started sifting through her vast amount of clothing inside her walk-in closet, Momo follows her and leans on the frame of the entrance and looking at her warily.

Momo hated when Sana kept quiet like this. She knew she had upset her with the way she avoided looking at Momo while pulling out a pair of jeans on the rack close to her.

“Sana…” Momo pouts, her voice going small. The other continued to ignore her while taking out more items of clothing and eventually laying them down on her bed.

Momo becomes pensive for a few moments before deciding to approach Sana and wrapping her arms around her waist from behind. Leaning her chin on the blonde’s right shoulder, she wiggles Sana in her hold to gain her attention.

She does this for a few more moments before Sana inevitably breaks into a smile. “Stop being cute with me, Hirai.”

Knowing she’s somehow gotten the girl talking, Momo continues with wiggling the other girl until she lets out a laugh. 

“Don’t be mad at me anymore. I’ll go with you.”

And that was enough for Sana to excitedly begin shoving outfit choices at Momo, the latter knowing that it’s going to be a long night.

\---

“You’ve been staring at that thing for hours. Just call her already.” SinB looks at Chaeyoung sternly. The two had been left in charge of watching the surveillance cameras all over the estate and was stationed in black van outside its gates.

“What would I even say? It’s not like we’ve formally began our project. If I called her, I’d just seem weird.” Chaeyoung reasons. Though she really wants to call Mina and hear her heavenly voice again.

SinB lets out a sigh. “I’m just saying, shorty, you have nothing to worry about. You’re hella cute and you’re smart. She’d be dumb not to like you even as a friend.”

This time, Chaeyoung’s the one sighing as she tucks the piece of paper inside her jean pocket. “Oh, SinB unnie?”

The older girl tears her gaze away from the screens for a bit to look at Chaeyoung.

“Call me shorty again and I’ll really shave off your eyebrows in your sleep this time.” The two bursts out laughing until Chaeyoung’s phone started ringing and an unknown number flashing on the screen.

She answers it reluctantly, but not without starting a call trace on her laptop.

“Hello?”

“Chaengie?” Chaeyoung nearly dropped her phone from shock, not just because of the familiar voice but the cute nickname she had been bestowed. She tries to play it cool, but the bouncing of her knees gave off that she was anything but cool.

The silence from the other end prompts the caller to speak again.

“It’s Mina. Myoui Mina? Your partner in Social Studies class?”

“Oh- uh- yeah… Hey, Mina. W-what’s up?” Chaeyoung grimaces at herself for stuttering. The few times she actually opens her mouth around Mina and she stutters. Great.

SinB turns from her seat upon hearing Mina’s name and looks at Chaeyoung with amusement.

“I was just wondering if you’re going to attend that party? You know, the one being thrown by Joy Park?” Chaeyoung remembers Sana’s conversation with this Joy on Friday. She also remembers that Tzuyu and her were invited as well.

“Uhm, I’m not really sure. Tzuyu and I aren’t done unpacking and we really want to get this done before Monday.” The girl lies through her teeth, earning a what-the-fuck-are-you-doing look from SinB.

“Oh. Okay, I just thought maybe you’d be there and you know, we can talk about the project a bit and then introduce you to our other classmates…” Mina trails off.

Chaeyoung really wants to go despite her dislike of such events but it’s Mina. Unfortunately, she’s on duty and even with SinB eyeing her, she knew she couldn’t say yes.

“I’m really sorry, Mina. Maybe next time?” The words felt bitter on Chaeyoung’s tongue. She wasn’t sure, but she thinks she heard Mina sigh on the other end but elects to ignore it.

She was about to bid Mina goodbye when SinB started to frantically tap her shoulder.

“Dahyun just called. Ms. Sana and Momo are missing. How the fuck did they even get out? We’ve been here for hours!” SinB spoke in hushed tones. 

Chaeyoung’s eyes widen before coming into a realization.

“And I think I know where they are. Call Dahyun unnie, tell her I might know where they went” Chaeyoung immediately calls Mina’s name, earning a surprised ‘yes’ from the other.

“I think I might go to that party after all.”

“Great! I’ll see you there then?”

“It’s a date!” Chaeyoung blurts out in a hurry and ends the call before realizing what she’d just said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I do apologize for the late update.  
> I've been swamped with uni and my internship that I keep pushing back writing days.  
> I've received a few questions about some points in the previous chapters on my Twitter (@AJMinatozaki)  
> And I just want to let you know that everything has its own purpose to the story.
> 
> And I hope you stick around to find out what they are.  
> Thank you so much for the overwhelming support. I am beyond grateful.
> 
> The next chapter is in the works and hopefully I can upload that earlier than this chapter.
> 
> See you next chapter.
> 
> xoxo


	9. I Wish You'd Say

After pacing the room for the fifth time in a row, Dahyun finally accepts that Sana and Momo are indeed gone.

 

Escaped, more like.

 

The young captain now regrets scolding Jeongyeon for suggesting putting a camera inside the room as well just to see “if Sana sheds her human shell in there”.

 

In the end of all the fuzz, they settled with placing only two cameras; one outside the balcony of Sana’s room and one that pointed towards her door. Dahyun had thought it was more than enough since there were no other exits anyway.

 

Or so she thought.

 

Dahyun has been racking her brain the entire time she’s in the room about how in the world those two got out and how she didn’t see anything when she’s been monitoring the cameras from her own room while Chaeyoung and SinB were outside the estate doing the same thing.

 

Jeongyeon was even tasked with patrolling the inside of the estate and as much as the lieutenant likes joking around, her senses and intuition with these things are no joke either.

 

She could practically hear Jeongyeon saying “Ha! I told you so!” from where she stood and wished she considered the older girl’s idea once more.

 

Would have been extremely helpful right now, Dahyun thinks. She wastes no time and whips out her phone from the back of her jean pocket and dials SinB’s number.

 

The lieutenant answers immediately while Dahyun went to grab her things in her room and headed downstairs to look for Aunt Chun.

 

“Hey, Chaeng says she might know where those two went. I think we should give it a shot.” Dahyun hums in agreement.

 

“Alright, text me the address and head over there now. Alert Tzuyu to do the same as well. I’ll take care of something here first.”

“Roger that. I’ll keep you posted.”

 

As the line went dead, Dahyun finds herself in the same room as the chief maid who seemed to be at the end of giving instructions to the other maids and staff for the night. Noticing her staff’s attention has shifted to someone behind her, the old woman turns around and sees the captain’s worried expression.

 

Aunt Chun’s smile falters as she takes a step closer to Dahyun.

 

“Something wrong, Captain Kim?”

 

Dahyun releases a shallow sigh, slightly shifting where she stood.

 

“Miss Sana, she’s escaped with Miss Momo.”

 

The chief maid couldn’t hold back her surprise but quickly regains her composure before turning back around with a stern look and quickly ordering everyone else to search the estate and to check everything.

 

“Please find her.” Aunt Chun pleads at Dahyun. Words were not needed at this point; the captain simply bowed and immediately headed out to her next destination.

 

\---

 

About an hour ago

 

“So how come you’ve never told me about your secret passage thingy before?” Momo pouts as she asks Sana who was guiding her out to the back of the mansion.

 

She tries not to feel sad that Sana hasn’t told her about something like this when they’ve practically grown up together but resorts to hearing out the blonde first, like she always does.

 

Sana, on the other hand, debates whether to shrug it off or open the Pandora’s box of her repressed childhood grief and ends up going for the former choice.

 

“It’s just for emergencies.” Sana says nonchalantly, holding Momo’s hand firmly as she waits for the CCTV to point away from where they’re hiding.

 

As an only child with an immense amount of curiosity and left mostly to her own devices, Sana had come to discover the vents and crawl spaces hidden behind the walls of their mansion.

 

She was more fascinated than surprised when she found it.

 

Trying to hide from Aunt Chun and their maids, Sana hid at the very back of the inside her enormous wardrobe placed in her bathroom. After trying to find a comfortable spot to settle in, she stumbled upon the loose board on the wall that served as an entrance to the crawl space.

 

She figured the people who worked on their house during the renovations simply forgot to completely close it.

 

Ever since, the crawl spaces and the vents had been her way of escaping the maids and even Aunt Chun whenever she wants to. She never told Momo because she never really found the opportunity to do so since a situation where they’d need it never really came up.

 

Until now.

 

“And exactly what kind of emergencies did you think you’d get into?” Momo chuckles, earning a pointed look from Sana. She knew they both had to keep quiet if they wanted to get out of the place.

 

Sana eventually leads the both of them to a series of large bushes hidden from the view of the security cameras at the very end of the garden. She’s planned this a thousand times in her head before; the times when the guards would pass by certain places for patrol and how to sneak past the camera’s line of sight.

 

Sana felt a sense of rush as they arrive at the spot behind the bushes where she slightly struggled lifting the steel cover of a manhole.

 

“Quick, get in!” Sana says to Momo with a sense of urgency. The brunette, however, shook her head furiously at the idea.

 

“Uh-uh, I’m not getting into some dirty sewer when I’m wearing this cute outfit and bomb af make-up. Nope. Not gonna happen.” Sana lets out a breath in frustration and proceeds to grab Momo’s wrist.

 

“First of all, it’s not a sewer. It’s a service tunnel and it’s clean, so get your whiny ass in there before they catch us and your cute outfit and ‘bomb af make-up’ will definitely be put to waste.” Seeing as the brunette was still hesitating, Sana took it upon herself to get down the entrance first.

 

Turning on the flashlight from her phone, she slowly but surely stepped down the ladder, showing Momo that it’s safe and clean. The latter eventually comes down as well, with Sana’s help, when she hears footsteps nearing their spot.

 

Sana immediately shuts the steel cover back as quietly as she could, before returning to where Momo stood.

 

The two girls looked around the dimly lit place and Sana could still see the nervousness on Momo’s features. She smiles reassuringly and holds her best friend’s hand once again.

 

“Let’s get to that party, shall we?”

 

\---

 

Momo had always known Sana is smart and that people don’t give her enough credit for it, but the blonde still surprises her with that fact.

 

Especially tonight.

 

After being led through the walls of their mansion then into a service tunnel and out of the estate’s gates with a Gruber car and driver waiting for them, Momo felt like she was in some sort of spy movie.

 

As soon as they arrived at the party, they were met by Joy herself who have taken them on a mini tour of all the stops she’s pulled to make the party extra special, saying that it’s also Sana and Momo’s comeback party now.

 

The brunette had kind of forgotten what it’s like being in one of these ragers; what with being cooped up with Sana in her home for the most part of the past months.

 

She currently finds herself taking small sips of her drink while Sana does the complete opposite.

 

It hasn’t even been a full hour yet and the blonde has probably downed more than she usually does. Momo sat beside the other cheerleaders whilst Sana danced with Joy and Yeri on the outdoor dancefloor near the pool.

 

The party was in full swing and more people seem to be arriving. Momo had this idea of letting her best friend let loose for the night, away from all the grief and expectations and away from Dahyun’s watchful eye.

 

The brunette was determined to keep an eye on Sana and keep her safe, but it seems like things weren’t going her way.

 

More people crowded the dancefloor and Momo was losing sight of Sana behind all of them. She quickly gets up from her seat and squeezes herself through the crowd to find Sana but finds Yeri and Joy instead.

 

“Where is she?” Momo leans closer for Joy to hear over the loud music.

 

“She left, she said she was going to the bathroom!” The raven-haired girl answers.

 

This doesn’t feel right to Momo.

 

None of this whole thing does.

 

She was about to ask Joy which bathroom but she’s already lost the girl in the sea of dancing bodies.

 

“Fuck it, I’ll do it myself.” Momo mutters as she begins to squeeze her way out of the dancefloor and into the mansion to find Sana. Unaware of another presence looking for the same person as she does.

 

\---

 

Chaeyoung was still internally panicking as they drove to Joy’s address.

 

She was going to see Mina again. And it’s going to be a ‘date’ much to her lack of control with her brain-and-mouth coordination earlier.

 

Arriving at the place, Chaeyoung could feel her jaw almost drop at the sight of the huge mansion surrounded by a large number of luxury and sports cars; Joy’s guests no doubt. Chaeyoung could feel that SinB and her are extremely under-dressed for the party.

 

The younger girl stepped out of the van first while SinB looked for a space to park in. Chaeyoung looked around, trying to spot Tzuyu who had arrived at the address a few minutes earlier and has taken the liberty of searching the outside of the place first.

 

Instead, Chaeyoung’s gaze falls on a girl beaming at her from a few meters away.

 

Chaeyoung could feel her heart swelling from the sight of Mina walking towards her; her long dark brown hair is in a lower and more casual ponytail. She wore a light denim jacket over her fitted green top and denim shorts to match.

 

“Wow…” Chaeyoung lets out as Mina stops in front of her. “I-I mean, hi.” She stammers, earning a giggle from the other.

 

“Hello there. I’m glad you could make it.” Mina softly says, giving Chaeyoung a shy smile. The latter was about to say something when she suddenly spots Tzuyu walking out from the side of the house.

 

Noticing her distraction, Mina turns around and sees Tzuyu who’s already making her way towards the two. “Tzuyu’s here too. That’s great! I can show both of you around.” Mina says before waving at Tzuyu who returns it with a small wave.

 

“I’m sorry, Mina, but have you seen Sana or Momo here tonight?” Chaeyoung says, trying to focus on the real reason they came. Confusion washes over Mina’s face but nevertheless answers.

 

“Yeah, they arrived about an hour ago. I actually asked Momo if you two were going as well, but she said no. So I thought I’d ask you myself if you could maybe swing by.” Mina explains as she leads the two towards the front door of the house.

 

The two lieutenants look at each other as if they’ve hit the jackpot and Tzuyu begins to type away on her phone, sending a text to their team leader. “Where did you last see them?” Tzuyu asks as they stepped through the door of the mansion.

 

It was complete and utter chaos inside.

 

The music they heard outside was nothing compared to its loudness inside. Chaeyoung could feel the bass underneath her sneakers and the place was only lit by the flashing party lights of varying colors.

 

People, mostly students from their school, can be seen mindlessly dancing everywhere or making out with a drink in hand; a recipe for a complete rave.

 

The three make their way through the house and the two agents can feel their senses overwhelmed as they get deeper into the house. Mina reaches for Chaeyoung’s hand, which surprises the latter but knew it was only being done so they don’t get separated in the sea of people.

 

Nevertheless, Chaeyoung savors the feeling and warmth of Mina’s hand on hers.

She does the same as she grabs on to Tzuyu’s hand and holds it firmly as they were lead through and out the back door of the mansion and near the pool where all of the cheerleaders are seen lounging and chatting amongst each other.

 

“That’s odd.” Mina begins to look around the place and pouts when she couldn’t find who she’s looking for.

 

“Ugh, that’s so cute…” Chaeyoung mumbles under her breath, which catches Mina’s attention and gives her a questioning hum. Chaeyoung awkwardly shakes her head as if to say it’s nothing and notices she was still holding hands with Mina… and Tzuyu.

 

Her gaze drops on hers and Mina’s hand together and feels a twinge in her chest when Mina releases her hand to approach one of her friends sitting on the loungers beside the pool.

 

“She looks really pretty, Chaeng.” Tzuyu says, snapping Chaeyoung from her trance. “She is.”

 

Mina returns a few seconds later, a look of worry spread on her face.

 

“They were here with the others when I left. I asked them and they said Sana was drunk and went dancing. Momo followed her and I suppose they’re around here somewhere. Is something wrong?”

 

The two lieutenants look at each other before Tzuyu spoke. “Nothing wrong, we were just looking for them. Needed to talk to them about something.” She smiles curtly, earning a nod from Mina.

 

Before anyone could say anything else, Chaeyoung felt her phone buzzing in her jean pocket and sees Dahyun’s name flashing on the screen. She excuses herself and answers the call after stepping a few feet away from Mina and Tzuyu.

 

“Have you seen them?” Dahyun asks from the other end.

 

“Not yet. But we’re looking, we just got here too. Mina says they were just here at the pool so they could be just around the house.”

 

“Jeongyeon unnie and I are on our way, we’re a few minutes away. Tell Tzuyu and SinB to start searching. We’ll meet you once we get there.”

 

Click.

 

As much as Chaeyoung hates it, she knew their job came first. So she returns to where Mina and Tzuyu stood, hand resting on the back of her neck; a usual sign of her nervousness.

 

Knowing what this means, Tzuyu takes off first, making an excuse to get drinks.

 

“Hey, Mina. I’m just gonna go look for Sana and Momo first, okay?” Chaeyoung could see Mina visibly deflating at this and she feels the same. “I’ll come back as soon as I find them.”

 

“You promise?”

 

“I promise.” Chaeyoung says, hopeful she can actually return to Mina afterwards.

 

\---

 

Dahyun and Jeongyeon arrives at the party a few minutes later.

 

Jeongyeon couldn’t help but let out a whistle as her eyes set on the large mansion.

 

“These rich folks like to get crazy with their houses huh? How do you suppose we start searching?” The red-head asks, eyes still trained on the huge house.

 

“Tzuyu had searched the outside and SinB said she’s double-checking it right now. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu are currently on the first floor, which means you and I will take the second and third floor.” Dahyun says, her tone serious and determined.

 

Jeongyeon understood how serious this is for Dahyun and decides to volunteer searching the second floor, leaving the third to Dahyun.

 

“I’ll take Chaeyoung with me if she’s finished with the first floor. I’ll text Tzuyu to accompany you.” Jeongyeon says as they make their way into the place.

 

Dahyun could smell the alcohol and something more, the deeper she got into the house. She could already tell that everything in there was trouble and that she needed to get Sana and Momo out as soon as possible.

 

After separating ways with Jeongyeon at the second floor’s stairs, Dahyun makes her way to the third and finds Tzuyu waiting for her at the top of the staircase.

 

“That was quick.” Dahyun lightly jokes at Tzuyu’s impeccable speed and efficiency with these things. “Take the west wing, I’ll go to the east wing. Call me if you find her.” Tzuyu quietly nods at the instruction before taking off.

 

With each footstep that Dahyun made, her anxiety rose from her stomach and to her chest.

 

She honestly didn’t know why she feels this much when she’s done this kind of thing numerous times before. She doesn’t know why she feels like she wouldn’t be able to take it if something bad does happen to Sana.

 

The captain tries to shake off the bad thoughts inside her head and focuses on all the doors she has to check at the east wing. She curses the owners of the house for having so many rooms that are mostly uninhabited and making her search more difficult.

 

Dahyun’s anxiety skyrockets when she receives a text from Jeongyeon, saying they haven’t found Sana or Momo on the second floor.

 

She’s down to the last door of the wing and prays to the heavens that they’re in there.

 

Dahyun reaches for the door knob and finds it locked from the inside. She frustratingly tries to open the door once again but to no avail.

 

The young captain was about to turn back and try to find anyone who may have the key to the door when she hears something that sounded a lot like Momo.

 

“Somebody get help! Please!”

 

It doesn’t take Dahyun more than three seconds to turn on her heels and start kicking the door down with the heel of her foot; a sense of urgency and dread coursing through her veins.

 

It felt so reminiscent of when she had to kick down Sana’s door before, only this time, she was sure of the threat behind it. She hears the voice again and this time, she’s sure it’s Momo.

 

A couple more forceful kicks and the door swings open, revealing a distraught and crying Momo with a passed out Sana in her arms. Dahyun’s senses went into overdrive as she quickly made her way to the two girls.

 

Dahyun immediately reaches for Sana’s hands that felt cold to the touch and her face ashen from god knows what.

 

“I swear to god I have no idea what happened… I-I found her like that too…”

 

Dahyun’s head immediately whips to the direction of the voice and finds Eunha standing in the corner of the room, arms wrapped around herself protectively. She looks back at Sana lying down on the floor and checks on her pulse by placing her index and middle finger on the side of her neck and feels a faint pulse.

 

“Unnie, did you find- OH MY GOD” Chaeyoung gasps as soon as she sees the sight in front of her from the door. Tzuyu and Jeongyeon immediately surfaces behind her, a mixture of shock and worry spreading across their faces.

 

“Please help her, please.” Momo cries out as she holds Sana’s head closer to her.

 

All emotions fade from Dahyun’s face as she lets go of Sana’s hand and turns around to her team.

 

“Chaeyoung, go downstairs now and start the car.” Dahyun says, voice filled with authority sending the younger girl to move swiftly as ordered.

 

The captain then proceeds to look at Momo as she reaches for Sana, “We’ll take care of her, Momo. Let me carry her.” Dahyun says calmly, her arms going for the back of Sana’s legs and her back, carrying her bridal style.

 

Dahyun shoots a knowing look at Jeongyeon to which the latter understands immediately, before heading out of the room completely.

 

All eyes were on them as soon as the group got to the bottom of the stairs. Apart from the music, not one soul spoke. Dahyun didn’t even spare them a glance as the same people quickly cleared out of her path to the door.

 

Reaching the car that Dahyun and Jeongyeon drove in, Chaeyoung opens the back door to let Dahyun and Sana in before getting into the driver’s seat herself, driving them to the nearest hospital.

 

Being left at the back of the car alone with Sana, Dahyun almost couldn’t hold back the tears welling in her eyes. This feels a lot like that day with Sana’s father. She felt helpless and caught off-guard and she lost him without even being able to fight back.

 

And she hates it. She hates it so much that she can feel her chest tightening as she holds Sana’s body flush against her, trying and hoping to give off some of her warmth to the latter.

 

The captain rests her chin on top of Sana’s head and closes her eyes.

 

“I am not losing you too.” Dahyun whispers, unaware of the other’s short moment of lucidity.

 

“Not now. Not ever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, dear readers of Break the Cycle!  
> I would like to give a huge "Thank You" to everyone that has stuck around with me and this fic  
> and for patiently waiting for its update.  
> As I've often said in my previous updates, I have become somewhat busy with my activities at  
> university and my internship that I couldn't write and update as much as I want.  
> I do hope that you see this fic through till the very end with me.
> 
> Again, thank you and I appreciate all of you so much. <3
> 
> If you guys ever wanna talk, you can't find me on Twitter through @AJMinatozaki  
> Thank you! :")


End file.
